Subterfuge
by starvingstudent
Summary: When Deeks is accused of being the mole, his team has his back and is prepared to fight to prove his innocence. But when the evidence continues to stack up against him, does he have the right answers? Like why has he really remained a liaison this long? And what really happened in that first case with NCIS?
1. Chapter 1

_**Subterfuge (noun) - a stratagem employed to conceal something, evade an argument, etc. Deceit used in order to achieve one's goals.**_

_**AN: So, this is something new for me; trying to write a story focussed a lot more on a 'case plot' than character development. It was surprisingly challenging to write, but a fun challenge. The idea was a combination of wanting to write Deeks 'on the other side of the table' and give a (hopefully) new possible reason for Deeks to have remained a LAPD Detective for so long. And then after the recent episode where Sam was accused of murder, the overall plot came together in combining the two ideas, and took a lot more shape, because if Sam and Kensi can be accused of murder, why not Deeks? The first three chapters are written from Callen/neutral POV because that's the only way the story works, but chapter four onward will mainly be from Kensi/Deeks POVs. I know I'm new to writing for NCIS LA and Kensi/Deeks, but I will ask for some faith while you're reading the first few chapters, because it will make sense. There are no spoilers for anything unaired, but there will be mention of several aired episodes (in detail - Hand-to-hand and The Debt). **_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am simply borrowing the characters for my own and (hopefully) others' enjoyment.**_

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><p>"This is ridiculous," Sam repeats. He's said it so many times at this point that Callen has lost count. He stopped agreeing about a dozen times ago; around the time he realized Sam isn't looking for agreement. His partner is standing beside him, arms crossed over his chest, anger and frustration with the situation coming off him in waves.<p>

Callen sighs and glances at Kensi. Of the three members of the field team not currently sitting on the wrong side of an interrogation table, he is most worried about her. While he and Sam have spent most of their time in the boatshed standing together as a unified front, staring up at the video feed from the interrogation room, Kensi has kept herself apart. The female agent has spent much of her time pacing back and forth behind the crowd of NCIS and FBI agents who had descended on their lives without warning only a few short hours ago.

He removes himself from his partner's side and approaches the still-pacing agent. Like Sam, her arms are crossed, but the top one is bent upwards, her hand clutched to the ring he knows she wears on a chain under her top. She stops when he approaches her, but doesn't meet his eyes. Her focus is on the video screen.

"How are you holding up?"

She shakes her head and doesn't directly answer the question. "This isn't right. He didn't do anything wrong. He's done nothing but-"

Callen reaches forward and lays a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. You don't need to convince me, Kens. I trust him like I trust Sam and you."

She runs her hand over her face and through her hair. "I just can't believe this is actually happening."

"It'll work itself out. They'll realize they've got the wrong guy." He offers her a smile. "It's not like they can have anything on him, right? I mean, it's Deeks."

XX

_The morning had started out like any other morning. Callen had been first to arrive at work. Kensi and Deeks had shown up next. He'd heard them before he'd seen them. They been bickering about paint colours._

_"No."_

_"But-"_

_"No."_

_"I-"_

_"No."_

_"Okay, but-"_

_"No."_

_"How about-"_

_"No."_

_Deeks laughed. "Are you going to let me say anything?"_

_Kensi smirked. "No."_

_"I'm just saying it's something we can think about."_

_She rolled her eyes. "We did think about it. You brought about a hundred paint chips home, so we've also gotten the visual. Every room does not need to be a different shade of blue! You spend enough time in the water. We can have normal colour walls at home."_

_"Fine," he agreed, though his tone made it clear he had just been goading her in the first place. "How about one blue room, where it's light blue at the top and dark blue at the bottom and the colour changes from top to bottom in a gradient?"_

_Kensi laughed. "You figure out how to paint that and you can go ahead."_

_Deeks made a face as he sat down at his desk. "Touché."_

_Kensi smiled as she took her seat next to Callen._

_"You guys find a house?" Callen asked._

_"Not yet, but we're going to look at a few this weekend," Kensi told him._

_"Then why are you talking about paint colours already?"_

_"I don't know. Ask Martha Stewart over there."_

_Deeks huffed. "Don't blame this on me. You're the one who brought it up. I just went with it."_

_"I did not bring it up."_

_"You did so. Last weekend."_

_Kensi rolled her eyes and then turned to Callen. "We went to see one house, which was awful."_

_"Really awful," Deeks added. "Shag carpet awful."_

_"But the Living room was a nice colour." She looked back to Deeks. "All I said was it would be a nice colour once we find a house."_

_Deeks sat back in his chair, crossed his arms and nodded. "I rest my case."_

_"What do you mean you rest your case? That doesn't prove anything!"_

_"It proves you started it."_

_"It does not!"_

_Sam walked in and set his bag down beside his desk. He motioned to the bickering partners. "What are they fighting about now?"_

_"Paint colours."_

_Sam lit up. "Did you guys find a house?"_

_"No!" Kensi and Deeks answered in stereo._

_"Oh. Then why are you talking about paint colours?"_

_Callen jumped up from his desk. "Trust me; you don't want to know." He motioned towards the hallway. "Want to hit the shooting range?"_

_Sam nodded and goes to follow them, but they only got a couple steps before Eric cut them off with a whistle. They turned to head up the stairs, but Eric held up his hands to motion for them to stay where they were. He hurried down the stairs to meet them._

_"What's going on, Eric?" Callen asked. Without any cues, the team comes together to meet the tech operator at the bottom of the stairs._

_"I just got a call from Granger," Eric said. His voice was too breathless for just having rushed down the stairs. Something more was clearly going on._

_"And?" Sam prompted._

_"Something's up. Something big. Something to do with the mole. The taskforce is at the boatshed."_

_It had been more than a year since Hetty's information had been sold on the internet, and since then there had been an additional handful of unrelated security breaches. And they were no closer to discovering the identity of the mole. An NCIS-FBI taskforce had been created more than a year earlier. Callen and his team had been kept in the loop, but not allowed to be part of the direct investigation. It was deemed they were 'too close' after the events involving Hetty._

_"Granger's with them?"_

_Eric nodded. "And Hetty." He paused. "And Director Vance."_

_"They must have more intel than they've shared with us," Sam said. "For Vance to be here; they must know who it is."_

_"For them to be here, it must be someone local," Kensi added._

_"What do they want from us? Tactical support?" Deeks asked._

_Eric shrugged. "That's where it gets weird. Granger just said for you all to report to the boatshed."_

_Knowing Eric didn't have any more answers, they left him there and headed for the boatshed in hope of answers._

_Sam parked the challenger, and he and Callen jumped out quickly. Kensi and Deeks were right behind them, exiting their SRX. They entered the boatshed in pairs. _

_Along with Hetty, Granger and Vance, there were the expected four members of the taskforce - two NCIS agents and two FBI agents. But unexpectedly, there was an MCRT team from the LA field office. And they looked like they were expecting confrontation._

_Callen met the eyes of one of the senior agents on the team, Agent Carter, whom he had worked with several times before. The older man's expression was one of both sympathy and determination. Callen flicked his gaze to the long-time team leader, a man he could not remember seeing out of the office, Agent Fischer, who appeared uncomfortable with being called into the field. But, like his agent, he also offered Callen a nod of sympathy._

_Callen stopped. Around him, his team stopped. Without a word, they formed a protective stance. _

_"Why do I get the feeling we've been set up?" _

_Vance and Granger stood together, which was weird in itself. Callen couldn't remember ever seeing the director and assistant director in the same place at the same time. He was pretty sure it was some kind of security breach. Vance met his eyes, very little expression there. Granger, not one to normally offer any expression, actually looked...surprised? To their left, Hetty stood apart, clearly unhappy with the situation._

_"Apparently we've all been set up, Mr. Callen," Hetty told him. "For more than a year now these people have been wasting valuable time and resources supposedly hunting for the mole."_

_Callen flicked his gaze towards the taskforce and then back to Hetty. "And?"_

_"And we found him," Agent Tom Winters, the head FBI agent on the taskforce, answered before Hetty could._

_"That is a matter of opinion. The wrong opinion," Hetty said back._

_"Ms. Lang, if you can please allow us to do our job." This time the plea came from the NCIS side of the taskforce. Agent Amelia Langford, a very senior agent with almost thirty years of experience with NCIS._

_"Who is it?" Callen demanded. He glared at the LA field agents when they started to circle around his team. They stopped and looked towards Agent Winters for direction. "What the hell is going on? Either you be straight with us or we're out of here."_

_Winters approached them cautiously, hands help up, no sudden movements. "We just want this to go smoothly. No one needs to get hurt."_

_"Smoothly? It sounds to me like you're accusing my team of something!"_

_Winters shook his head. "Not your team, Agent Callen. Just one member."_

_"How dare you!" He stepped forward, ready to defend each member of his team._

_"Stand down, Agent Callen," Vance called, striding forward and shaking his head. He motioned for Winters to back off._

_"Sir, I-"_

_"My agency, my people, my call."_

_The FBI agent nodded and re-joined his fellow taskforce members._

_"Director-"_

_"I know how you're feeling," Vance interrupted him. "I felt the same way. But they have evidence. At the very least, we need to let them ask some questions and give some answers."_

_"G," Sam said, always the voice of reason between them._

_Called took a breath. "Who?"_

_Vance looked past him. "Detective Deeks, I'm going to ask you to hand over your weapon willingly. And then the taskforce has some questions for you."_

_Callen spun around. Deeks looked shocked. As did his partner beside him._

_"Me?" He sputtered for a moment. "But I... What could they possibly... I didn't... What?"_

_"No." Kensi declared, immediately standing up for her partner. "This is a waste of time. They think he's the mole? No. This is not going to happen."_

_The director stepped forward. "Detective, your weapon?" He held out his hand. "Please don't make this more difficult than it needs to be."_

_"Director Vance, I didn't do anything," Deeks insisted._

_"Then you'll have answers to all of their questions and we'll be done with this by lunch."_

_Deeks stared at him for a long moment and then very slowly pulled his Beretta from the small of his back and placed it in the Director's hand._

_"Thank you, Detective."_

_Deeks then crouched down and pulled his spare from his ankle holster and passed that off as well._

_Vance smiled. "That all?"_

_Deeks shrugged and pulled his sayoc knife from his waist band. Vance held his hand out for it, but Deeks passed it to Kensi, who was seething beside him. "For safe keeping," he explained. "It was a gift."_

_Kensi took the knife and secured it on her waist band, alongside her own knife._

_Vance led him towards the interrogation room. Winters stepped forward with handcuffs, but Vance shook his head. "Right now this is only an interview."_

_Callen watched on the video feed as Deeks was seated on the suspect side of the table. Winters and Langford sat across from him._

_"For the record, Mr. Deeks, you're here to be questioned because you are suspected of treason, espionage..." The questioning began._

_"This is ridiculous," Sam said for the first time. He and Callen were practically shoulder to shoulder, watching the video screen. Kensi was spitting mad, pacing angrily behind them, so Callen was giving her a chance to cool off before he attempted to approach her._

_"Do you understand those charges and their implications, Mr. Deeks?" Langford asked Deeks._

_"I'm not admitting to any of them, but yes, I understand what the charges mean."_

_"At this point, would you like to have legal counsel present for questioning?"_

_Deeks shook his head. "I'm a lawyer. And I'm innocent. So, I don't see the need to have additional legal counsel present."_

_"Do you have any questions before we get started?"_

_"Yes, one."_

_Winters nods for him to ask._

_"Do either of you know how to paint in a gradient? You know; light colour on the top, dark on the bottom? My partner and I are buying a house and I'm trying to design a room to look like the ocean and-"_

_"Mr. Deeks, can you try and take this seriously?"_

_"I'm just trying to get something productive out of this conversation. Seeing as you're wasting my time and all, I may as well see if you have some useful information for me."_

_Winters sighed. "Let's move on."_

_Deeks sat back in his chair. "You guys aren't very good at this. I mean, this is supposed to be an 'interview,' and neither of you actually answered my question."_

_Callen actually had to bite back a smile when Deeks successfully gets both Winters and Langford to tell him they don't know how to paint in a gradient. He then allows them to move on with the interrogation. They start with reviewing the details of the case that everyone already knows. Almost a year and a half earlier, a mole was suspected within the ranks of NCIS when sensitive information was leaked. It had to be someone with a higher than average security clearance._

_"Higher than average narrows it down to half," Deeks pointed out. "Which is a lot of interviews. Am I just first on your list?"_

_"You fit a number of other unique criteria."_

_"Such as?"_

_"We'll get to that, Detective." Winters sat back in his chair. "You've been working with NCIS for almost six years now."_

_Deeks nodded. "April two thousand and ten. It'll be six years next month."_

_"That's a long time for a liaison position."_

_Deeks shrugged. "Wouldn't know. It's been my only liaison position."_

_"It's also a very...unique position you've found yourself in. An LAPD detective, working with a team of NCIS agents. Access to both local and federal information. With a higher security clearance than most federal employees. It allows you to be underestimated my most, while allowing you access to more information than most would begin to dream of."_

_Deeks leaned forward. "If you want to discuss the intricacies of my position, I'd direct you to Director Vance, Assistant Direct Granger, or Operations Manager Hetty Lange, all of whom are in the other room and I'm sure would be happy to speak with you. I had nothing to do with the structuring of my position or the level of my security clearance."_

_"But you did choose to remain in your liaison position," Winters pointed out._

_Deeks sat up. "Yes, I did. Now you're questioning my career choices? This isn't an opportunity you turn down. Why would I walk away from it?"_

_Winters smiled. "I wasn't questioning why you never returned to the LAPD. I was questioning why you never applied to become an NCIS agent. After a year or two, I can understand. But almost six?"_

_"I'm a cop." Deeks stated. "I shouldn't have to justify that."_

_"You're going to have to try," Langford spoke up._

_Deeks sighed. "It's just...important to me, to be a cop. And I've done this job, as you said, for almost six years. And no one has ever questioned my conduct or my loyalties until right now. And, may I point out, NCIS recruited me to this position in the first place. I was perfectly fine on my own being 'just a cop.'"_

_"We'll come back to that," Winters said. He opened the file on the table in front of him and pulled out the top piece of paper. He placed the paper down in front of Deeks. "Do you recognize this?"_

_Deeks stared down at the paper and nodded. "It's a list of Hetty's old addresses. The ones that were compromised by the mole."_

_"It's interesting that you knew that by memory."_

_"I'm a field agent and an undercover operative. If I can't memorize things, I die. Also, what other list of addresses would you be showing me?"_

_Winters apparently didn't have a good response, so he moved on. He tapped on the paper in front of Deeks. "You were on a short list of people with access to this information."_

_Deeks shook his head. "That's where you're wrong. I didn't have access to this information."_

_"You didn't know where Henrietta Lange lived?"_

_"No."_

_"You're telling us, at the time, you worked for her for more than four years, and you didn't know any of her addresses."_

_"That's what I'm saying."_

_"Tell us what you did know."_

_"I'd heard the rumour that she had multiple properties; you know, the whole Hetty sleeps in a different house every night rumour." He paused and considered his own words. "Is it a rumour if it's true?"_

_"Please focus, Mr. Deeks."_

_Deeks appeared to debate continuing on his tangent, but sighed and followed his directive. "I knew she had a boat; but I didn't know what it was called or where it was kept. I had known where one previous property was, but I knew she got rid of it after it was compromised due to an earlier case."_

_"Go on."_

_"There was a shoot out in her driveway and garage."_

_"Were you involved?"_

_"No. Agents Callen and Hannah were involved. As was her most prized possession; her jaguar. My partner and I were there after."_

_Callen avoided looking toward Hetty after Deeks's reminder of the damage to her jaguar. He glanced to his side to see what his partner thought, but Sam was still exuding anger. _

_"This is-" Sam started to say._

_"Ridiculous, I know," Callen said, finishing the thought. He turned his attention back to the video screen. "I know."_

_"How can we just stand here and allow this to happen?"_

_"I don't see how we can't allow this to happen," Callen said. "It's not like they're going to find anything."_

_"I don't like it."_

_"I don't either. I'm sure they're just going after Deeks because he's not an agent. Let them get their answers. If it gets out of hand, we'll step in."_

_"Oh, I'm ready to step in."_

_"Just don't do anything stupid," Callen cautioned. "I feel like this is a house of cards. The last thing we want to do is make things worse for Deeks."_

_Sam nodded in agreement._

_Callen looked back to the video screen. Winters and Langford were walking Deeks through his scholarly and professional history; having him confirm schools attended and dates of graduation, passing the bar exam, working for the DAs Office, joining the LAPD, bouncing around departments until he fell into undercover work. Making detective. Awards and accommodations._

_"This is ridiculous," Sam repeats for the umpteenth time, prompting Callen to leave his side and approach Kensi._

_XX_

"How are you holding up?"

She shakes her head and doesn't directly answer the question. "This isn't right. He didn't do anything wrong. He's done nothing but-"

Callen reaches forward and lays a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. You don't need to convince me, Kens. I trust him like I trust Sam and you."

She runs her hand over her face and through her hair. "I just can't believe this is actually happening."

"It'll work itself out. They'll realize they've got the wrong guy." He offers her a smile. "It's not like they can have anything on him, right? I mean, it's Deeks."

Kensi nods. "I know. I just..."

Callen stands beside her and bumps her shoulder with his. "I get it, Kens. You don't need to be his partner right now."

"I'm always his partner," she shoots back, stubbornly.

He has to smile at that. "I mean, you don't need to be just his partner right now. You two have done remarkable well at keeping your personal life separate from work. But this doesn't exactly count. You get to be the scared fiancée right now, and no one will judge you for that."

Apparently, she takes his words to heart, because she actually leans into him and rests her head on his shoulder for a moment. Callen debates putting his arm around her in support, but he's kind of afraid to move. Kensi's not one to reach out for physical contact, ever. This is so far out of character that he's immediately twice as concerned about the fallout of the team allowing Deeks to be questioned. In the end, he decides it's best not to move, lest he scare her off.

"You know we don't believe this for a second, right?"

"I know."

She doesn't sound like she's crying, so that's a good sign. Callen can breathe a little easier. "They've singled him out because he's different; because he's a cop working with agents and whatever other BS reasons they think they have. They don't know him like we do. You and me and Sam have his back. And you know Hetty and Vance and Granger do too. And Eric and Nell will move mountains to clear his name if it comes to that."

"I know."

"And you guys will find a house. Hopefully soon, because you're driving Sam and I crazy with the looking." This gets him a laugh. "And after we let Deeks go crazy for, let's say a month, trying to figure out how to paint walls in a gradient of colour, I'll point out he could just buy wallpaper."

Kensi stands up straight at that and punches him lightly in the arm. "Don't tell him that! I don't want stupid gradient blue walls all over my house!"

"But you told him he could have them."

"Because I knew there was no way he could paint them."

Callen laughs. "Evil."

Kensi laughs, too. "Truthfully, I don't care what colour the walls are." She looks to the video screen, where Deeks is explaining his role at LAPD prior to his first interaction with NCIS. "I just need him there with me," she admits.

Her words actually make Callen smile. He's reminded of how closed off she was and for how long. Deeks brought her out of a shell he hadn't even realized Kensi was in. The old Kensi would never have admitted needing anyone in any way, shape or form. "He will be," Callen says, no doubt in his mind.

The remaining two members of the taskforce not in the interrogation room begin organizing themselves. They announce they will be taking the LA field office MCRT team to Deeks's place of residence for a thorough search.

And, in one moment, all of Callen's efforts to calm Kensi go out the window. She storms towards them. "You have no right to enter his home. We all know you need-"

"A warrant?" Agent Larson, the other FBI agent cuts her off. He passes her a document.

Kensi stares down at the document in shock. "You...you have a warrant?" A warrant means this is more than just questions needing answers. A warrant means they have enough solid information to have a judge sign off on the warrant. A warrant means...Deeks may actually be in trouble.

"It's our understanding that you and Detective Deeks live together?" Agent Larson says snidely. Kensi had moved into Deeks's apartment around the time they had gotten engaged. He doesn't wait for an answer. "Then we'll consider this warrant served."

"How did you get a warrant?" Kensi asks, almost meekly, still staring down at the document in her hands.

Larson doesn't respond to her question. "You may accompany us if you wish."

Kensi looks up, clearly torn between wanting to stay in the boatshed with Deeks while he is questioned and wanting to be there while they search their apartment.

Callen steps up beside Kensi. "You stay here," he tells her. "Sam or I will go."

She nods. "Thank you."

Callen explains the situation to Sam. "I think you should go," he tells his partner. "You're practically radiating anger. You need a break. Go spend a few hours pissing off the taskforce at Deeks and Kensi's apartment."

Sam agrees.

Kensi turns her keys over to him.

Sam tries to offer her a supportive smile, but it falls flat. "Anything I should know about?"

"Monty is home. He won't understand...but he'll know you. The neighbor to the left, Mrs. Morris, loves having him if she's home. She thinks Deeks is just a cop and I'm a personal assistant who travels a lot."

Sam nods. "Okay."

Kensi runs a hand through her hair. "We both have personal weapons in a safe, both registered. And my dad's sniper rifle, also registered. Some cash in the safe; a few hundred dollars, maybe a grand. Because Deeks needs to be prepared for anything. Legal documents. Nothing suspicious." She takes an unsteady breath. "But...our things..."

"I'll make sure they're respectful."

"Thank you, Sam."

Sam leaves with the taskforce and MCRT unit.

Callen convinces Kensi to stand with him by the video screen instead of pacing. She stands almost perfectly still, arms crossed, upper arm bent and hand clutched to the engagement ring hanging around her neck.

Onscreen, Deeks has finished explaining the Daniel Zuna case and his early days with NCIS.

"Would you say you're good at creating a character, Mr. Deeks? At playing a role?"

Deeks sighs. "I'm an undercover operator."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes. That's something I'm good at. That's something I _have_ to be good at, or I would have been made _and killed_ years ago. That's why NCIS recruited me."

"So, you're saying you have to skills to play a role, say for several years."

Deeks runs a hand through his hair.

"Please answer the question."

"I'm an undercover operator," Deeks repeats. "Before working with NCIS, I had several assignments with the LAPD that were longer than six months. One was longer than a year. So, yes, I have the skills to create a character and play a role." He pauses. "I just don't have the need-"

"You answered the question. We don't need you to expand right now."

Deeks releases a frustrated breath. "It seems like you want to be telling the story instead of listening to my answers. Why don't you just tell me the evidence you have against me instead of going through this ridiculous charade? Because it seems to me like all you have against me are some unfounded accusations because you don't like that I'm a cop working with agents and I happen to know Hetty, and her information was compromised a year and a half ago."

Winters smirks. "Humour us a little longer and we'll move a little faster, how about that?" He doesn't give Deeks a chance to reply. "Do you know Detective Monroe?"

At this, Deeks sits up straighter in his chair. "Phillip Monroe?"

Outside the room, Callen glances to his left when Kensi sucks in a breath of air.

"Who is he?" Callen asks.

"An undercover detective Deeks used to work with."

"Do you know him?" Callen prompts.

Kensi shakes her head. "I only met him once. But then..." She trails off.

"But then..." He prompts.

She meets his eyes. "I went with Deeks to his funeral last year."

Back inside the interrogation room, Deeks shakes his head. "What does Monroe have to do with this?"

"You tell me?" Winters says darkly.

Deeks slams his hands down on the table and stands. "You're accusing me of burning him? How dare you! Monroe was a friend!"

"Monroe's cover inside a drug cartel was blow last year. He was killed on the spot." Winters states. "It was a joint LAPD-FBI operation. We were two weeks away from taking down a huge player in drugs and weapons."

Deeks begins pacing back and forth behind the table. "I didn't know any details about his operation. I only know his cover was blown. He was a friend," he repeats.

"Sit down, Mr. Deeks."

Deeks collapses onto his chair. "It's an open case. LAPD blamed FBI for the leak. FBI blamed LAPD for the leak. Cartel up and left. Left his body as a statement."

"So, you do know some details."

"I didn't know any details about what he was doing at the time. After he was killed, I heard some rumours at the funeral. I...asked our technical operator at NCIS to look into the investigation. I was able to confirm he had been undercover with a cartel; I still don't know which one. I found out it was a joint operation between FBI and LAPD. Once a month, our technical operator lets me know if there are any new leads; there never are."

Callen sighs as he watches Winters begin to pick apart Deeks's motives in being interested in the case. Strictly speaking, Monroe's death was outside NCIS jurisdiction, but far from solid evidence that Deeks is the mole. Winters is so very confident, though. Callen's pretty sure he's still holding back an ace up his sleeve; possibly several.

Kensi leaves his side and resumes her pacing. He lets her be. He and Hetty exchange a worried glance; worried both for Deeks and for Kensi.

The interrogation continues. Deeks is forced to explain in detail when exactly he found out his friend had been killed, by whom and what he did after. He explains when he went to the funeral, that Kensi went with him, who he talked to when he was there, and when he first approached Eric for help afterwards.

The topic finally seems to be wrapping up when Callen's phone rings. He glances at the caller ID as he answers the call. "Sam. Tell me things are going better there than here."

"G, we got a problem."

It's more Sam's tone than his words that cause that first wave of realization to wash over Callen. Because maybe - just maybe - they're already in too deep and this is something they can't win.

Callen moves to a quiet corner of the boatshed. "What?"

"They had a forensic team waiting for us when we got here."

"So?"

"They scanned everything they could, including the flower beds outside the front door."

Callen took a breath. "What did they find?"

"A bag with documents. Buried deep, G, right at the back, under that giant bush."

"Documents?"

"Passports. ID. All with Deeks's picture. None with his name." Sam pauses. "Also, cash. And what looks like some sort of account numbers. And some documents in code."

Callen schooled his features as he glanced around the room. "Okay. He's being set up. Winters has something on him he hasn't announced yet, but he's building up to something big. Someone buried that bag in his flower bed to set him up."

"I want to believe you, G, but the roots of the bush had grown through the bag."

"What?"

Sam hesitates, but then presses on. "The forensic guy says the bag has been there three to five years."

_**AN: Chapter two should be up in a day or two. Please stick with me through the first few chapters and keep in mind I love these characters, too...**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: I'm a little nervous about posting this chapter...I debated where to cut it off. I also chickened out and cut it sooner, but I do think it works best this way. If you're angry at me after reading, please read the AN at the bottom. Next chapter should be up in a day or two.**_

* * *

><p>Everything changes when the taskforce returns from their search of Kensi and Deeks's apartment. Deeks is presented with the documents discovered buried under the bush by his front door, each documents preserved and protected in evidence bags.<p>

"You need to explain this, Mr. Deeks," Agent Winters says. He's sitting back in his chair, arms crossed with a superior expression on his face, like he's already won. Beside him, Agent Langford is practically mirroring his posture.

Deeks looks incredulously as the fake passports and cash. "I wish I could." He swallows hard. "I'm being set up."

"Our forensic experts say that bag was underground on your property for a minimum of three years. Possibly as long as five years. So, what you're saying is someone set you up more than three years ago, and then, what? Forgot about it?"

Deeks opens and closes his mouth a few times, but no words come out. He runs his hands through his hair. "I don't know what to say, okay? Maybe someone was trying to set me up for something. Maybe it's not even related to this? I don't know."

"Tell you what I think, Mr. Deeks. I think you're a manipulative and ruthless operator who just made a very big mistake. You thought we'd never find your little insurance policy because we'd assume no one would be stupid enough to leave it out in the open like that?"

Deeks runs his hand through his hair, but says nothing.

"Tell me, Mr. Deeks," Winters says, sliding a photocopy of the document with the series of alphanumeric sequences towards him. "What do these codes mean? Are they accounts? Addresses?"

"I don't know."

"This will all be easier if you just admit to everything."

Deeks sighs. "I didn't do anything."

"Oh, you've done plenty, Mr. Deeks. But you're done. You're caught."

"I didn't do anything," Deeks repeats.

Outside the interrogation room, Callen hooks his arm under Kensi's elbow and leads her to the most secluded corner of the boatshed. He knows without looking that his partner will follow.

"Okay, Kens. Is there any reason you can think of for Deeks to have those documents? The money?"

"The codes?" Sam adds.

Kensi reaches up to clutch at the engagement ring hanging on the chain around her neck. Callen pretends not to notice that her hand is trembling ever so slightly. "Not that I can think of," she whispers.

"Would he have put them together in case he ever needed to make a quick getaway?" Sam asks. "An escape plan?"

Kensi hesitates, but shakes her head. "Maybe a long time ago, but he would have told me. And he..." She takes a breath. She's tense and she's scared. The new information appears to have rattled her more than she wants to let on. "He wouldn't leave without me," she whispers fiercely, her faith in her partner and lover strong.

"Maybe it's left over; he just hasn't gotten around to updating it since you two got together?" Callen suggests.

Again, Kensi shakes her head. "We've talked about it," she tells them. "With our jobs; we know what could happen. We have plans...and documents and money...in place in case it's ever needed; just like I'm sure you two do. In our plan, we go together. He would have told me if he'd had a plan before."

Sam nods, accepting her answer. "Is it possible someone has been planning to set him up for this long?"

"The information breaches are more recent," Callen points out. "_Years_ more recent."

"Doesn't mean whoever is behind it hasn't been gathering information all this time. Longer, even."

"But Deeks was a bad fall guy to pick. It's like Winters said, six years is a long time in a liaison position."

Sam sighs. "You're right. There was no guarantee he'd be here this long."

"There has to be an explanation," Kensi declares.

"Something will make this all make sense," Callen says. He shakes his head. "It's Deeks. We know he's not a mole."

"I'm going to go back to OPs," Sam says. "I want to check in with Eric and Nell, get some more information on Detective Monroe's death. I also want to have them look into the taskforce members, especially Winters."

Callen drops his voice to a whisper. "You think Winters is setting him up?"

"I think Winters is out to get him. And it bears looking into."

Sam leaves for OPs in hopes of making sense of the information they have and gathering more. Callen stays in the boatshed with Kensi, who is failing to hide her distress with the situation. Hetty has disappeared; Callen guesses she is also at OPs, searching for an explanation to make sense of the information they do have.

"Let's go back to that first case you shared with NCIS, shall we?" Winters poses it as a question, though everyone knows there's no option to say no.

Deeks sits defeated in his chair. He sighs and then provides a brief synopsis of information he has already provided. "I was undercover as a wannabe MMA fighter with the Blood and Guts Warriors when one of the members, Daniel Zuna, was murdered."

"How was he murdered?"

"He was blood packing; injecting extra blood prior to fights to increase his red blood cells. He was killed by Victor Janklow with an injection of heparin which caused him to bleed out through the most porous parts of his body; eyes, ears, nose."

"And you were aware the suspects in your assignment were active duty and recently retired marines?"

"Yes. That was the point of the gym. Most of the members were active or retired marines."

"Is that why you volunteered for the assignment?"

"How do you know I volunteered for that assignment?"

"We have a copy of your LAPD file."

Deeks sighs. "No. That's not why. It also wasn't the focus of the assignment, which was the whole mini mart for druggies angle."

"But you don't dispute that you volunteered."

"Yes, I volunteered," Deeks agrees. "Not sure what that has to do with anything?"

"It changed the course of your life," Winters points out.

"It did," Deeks agrees. "And I'll be the first one to agree to that. But there's no way I could have foreseen bumping into NCIS and becoming their liaison."

"No way, huh? Because according to your LAPD file, this was not your first dealing with NCIS."

"Not even your second," Langford adds. "It was your third case which crossed with NCIS; your third undercover case which crossed with NCIS. Once you were arrested by the LA field office while undercover and once you provided evidence in support of one of the LA field office's cases. And in both cases, you had volunteered for your assignment.

"I volunteered for a lot of assignments. I also got arrested a lot while I was undercover; by federal agencies and by LAPD. It's part of being an undercover cop. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make."

"You seemed to be trying to catch the attention of NCIS."

Deeks pauses. "I volunteered for a lot of assignments. If I wasn't undercover, I was trying to get undercover. I interacted with NCIS a few times. I also interacted with the FBI a few times. And some other federal agencies. I was _doing my job_."

"But in this particular case, you seemed to do it for a really long time. Several months for a drug bust. According to the file, you had the information to take down the ring after the first month."

"My handler wanted the supplier."

"That's not in the file."

Deeks huffs and then releases a frustrated laughing breath. "That's because my handler was Frank Scarli."

"And that's relevant how?"

"I obviously didn't know it at the time, but he was a dirty cop. Almost got me killed on my next assignment. Got my next handler killed. And the subject of my assignment. He was probably keeping me in to delay putting me undercover on my next assignment. I just...never thought about it until now."

"That's a good story, Mr. Deeks," Winters says. "But here's a better one. You kept yourself under with excuses. You played your suspects against each other. And you scared Victor Janklow into murdering Daniel Zuna."

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"To attract NCIS's attention."

"That is the most ridiculous thing-"

"Actually, it's quite clever. You made your impression, got yourself recruited. You had to go back to LAPD one last time, of course, because you had committed to another assignment. But it worked out in the end. Because when you got into trouble, what did you do? Did you follow protocol and call into LAPD?" Winters smirks and shakes his head. "Nope, no you didn't. You called NCIS after working just two cases together. You reached out for their help."

Outside the interrogation room, Kensi comes to a momentary stop in her pacing beside Callen.

"He's twisting _everything_."

"He's good," Callen says. "I mean, he's awful. But, he's good at painting the picture he wants."

"He's neglecting the fact that Deeks almost died during that case. If we hadn't gotten there when we had, he would have."

"If Deeks brings it up, Winters will probably just say it was a calculated risk to further confirm our trust."

The expression on Deeks's face confirmed to Callen that was exactly why he wasn't saying anything further.

"So, you manage to catch the attention of NCIS. You get yourself recruited as their liaison officer. You earn their trust." Winters pretends to be impressed, even whistles. "Hell, kid, you did a good job. You've got the director and assistant director of a federal agency going to bat for you. You pulled wool over the eyes of _Henrietta Lange_. You've got three highly trained agents convinced you're one of them. Hell, you're even sleeping with one of them."

At that, Deeks flinches. "Careful," He warns.

Winters smirks. "She's hot, kid. But must not be very bright. Because she's out there right now, completely convinced of your innocence."

"I know what you're trying to do. You leave her out of this," Deeks says sharply.

Winters clicks his tongue. "Maybe it's not all an act? Maybe some of the feelings are real, huh?"

Deeks huffs. "_All_ of the feelings are real. There's no act. So, you leave my partner out of this."

"How long did it take you to get her into bed?"

Deeks ignores him, but his jaw is twitching.

"She must be one hell of a ride."

At that, Deeks leaps up and slams his hands onto the table. "I told you to leave her out of this."

Vance is heading for the interrogation room, but Callen beats him there.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Winters demands when Callen flings open the door.

"Deeks sit down," Callen calls. "You know he's trying to goad you into hitting him so he can officially arrest you."

"I know," Deeks says, slowly sitting back down.

Callen storms up to Winters, ignoring protests from both Winters and Langford. He grabs a fistful of Winters's shirt and drags him to his feet. He walks him backwards and holds him against the wall.

"What the hell do you-"

"Shut up," Callen demands, cutting him off. "I get that I have to let you continue this ridiculous charade of questioning a member of my team."

"It's not ridiculous. We have evidence-"

"And I told you to shut up." Callen pauses to glare at him. "But I will not stand by and allow you to speak that way about _two_ members of my team, do you hear me?" He doesn't allow Winters any time to answer. "Agent Blye is an NCIS agent and she deserves to be treated with respect. She's also a highly trained operator, skilled in several forms of combat, and trained as a sniper. So, I would suggest not pissing her off. Do I make myself clear?"

"She's also really skilled with a knife," Deeks adds. "And today she's carrying two."

"I think you two have made your point," Vance calls from the doorway.

Callen releases his hold on Winters. He turns and joins the director.

"Winters, you're in my house and these are my people. Keep it professional or get out," Vance tells him.

Callen nods towards Deeks, a show of support, before turning from the doorway. He's still seething when he returns to Kensi's side. It's then that he realizes in the whole thing, Kensi didn't move. She's not the type of person to let someone else fight her battles. She's definitely not the type of woman to allow a man to stand up for her. Callen had reacted on instinct. But he had expected Kensi to be on his heels, if not pushing ahead of him.

Agent Fischer is standing on Kensi's other side, seemingly attempting to offer some comfort. The senior agent, whom Callen cannot recall ever having seen outside of the LA Field Office, still appears out of place in the boatshed. "I'm sorry this is happening, Agent Blye," he is saying to Kensi, kindly. "I know my team has only worked with you a few times, but I would never have guessed...well, you know."

Kensi nods.

"Deeks is being set up," Callen tells Fischer. "Or something else is going on. But he's one of us. And he's not a traitor or a mole."

Fischer considers him for a moment and nods. His expression tells Callen that he's going along with him to make him happy, but right now Callen doesn't care.

"What do you know about Winters?" Callen asks.

Fischer purses his lips. "Agent Tom Winters. Been with the Bureau, probably going on twenty five years now. Always been a bit of an ass. Always a bit sexist," he glanced to Kensi in sympathy.

Kensi waves him off. "Anything else? Political? Motivations? Enemies?"

"He's always pushing an angle, I can tell you that. No one really likes him all that much, but I'm not sure if he's got enough power to have powerful enemies, you know?" he pauses. "Tell you what? I have some contacts with the FBI; I'm always liaising assignments with them these days. I'll check into him and get back to you."

"Thank you," Callen tells him.

"Thanks," Kensi says. She offers him a smile, though it barely comes close to reaching her eyes.

Fischer leaves them together and heads over to rejoin his other agents.

"What's going on, Kens?"

"Nothing."

"Kens?"

"Nothing. It's just...been hours. I'm tired and I want this to be done. But I don't think it will. And that's making me realize that this is going to go on for days, if not weeks or longer. My partner is being interrogated. My home is a crime scene. Our team will be considered compromised. What happens tonight, huh? I can't go home. I can't even go home to get any of my things. And I don't want to leave him here." She reaches to clutch to the ring hanging around her neck again.

For a moment, Callen wonders if he should give her a hug. But she looks really upset, almost as if she is...starting to doubt her faith in Deeks. And Callen doesn't know what he would do if she were to admit to that, so he refrains from hugging her and the moment passes in silence.

Back in the interrogation room, Winters is angry that he's been derailed from his questioning, but he knows better than to attempt to use Kensi again. He goes back to the beginning. Accuses Deeks of seeking out NCIS. Volunteering for the Zuna case to catch the attention of NCIS. Convincing Victor Janklow to kill Zuna to ensure the attention of NCIS. Calling NCIS when he's in trouble on his next LAPD case for the sole purpose of confirming his spot with NCIS. Selling Hetty's personal information. And then burning a friend and fellow undercover cop, Phillip Monroe, who was undercover in a joint LAPD-FBI operation.

"Quite a lot of coincidences, don't you think?" Winters says.

Deeks sighs. "Only in the way you tell the story."

"How do you tell the story?"

"Like I said, I bumped into NCIS undercover. It was a coincidence. Janklow killed Zuna; I had no part in that. If I'd had any idea it was going to happen, I would have stopped it. But I didn't know and NCIS came into the picture and I became the liaison. I didn't sell any information."

"That's a boring story."

Deeks huffs out a laugh. "Boring? Fine, if you think my life for the last six years has been one giant cover, how do you explain the good work I've done?"

"All part of the cover. Very convincing," Winters says condescendingly.

"How about the number of times I've almost died, been shot, stabbed, blown up, tortured and kicked in the nuts? Because all of those things have happened. Some of them more than once. Why would I continue to put myself at risk if I wasn't in this for the right reasons?"

"Simple. I think you're a sociopath. You get off on the challenge."

Deeks runs his hand through his hair. "Oh my God, I can't even..." He sighs. "I give up. I don't even know what to say to you anymore. You are an awful interrogator."

"You want a more traditional interrogation?" Winters pulls another piece of paper from his file. "Here's a sworn written statement from Victor Janklow, following our interview with him in prison. He agrees to the actual murder of Daniel Zuna, but says you were in on it. He never pointed a finger at you before because he was terrified of you."

Deeks scoffs. "That's ridiculous! I had no idea he was going to kill Zuna. I would have _stopped_ him if I knew. Can I remind you the man is a liar and a killer?"

"And what reason would he have for lying to us?"

"To get me back for putting him in prison."

"That would be a good explanation, except we also have records that he's been paid off for his silence. According to Janklow, once he figured out what you were up to, he called you on it and you've been paying him off since. Fifteen thousand dollars twice a year for three years."

"Okay, that's even more ridiculous. I don't have that kind of money. Nor do I have a reason to pay anyone off."

"The money came from an offshore account." Winters smirks and pauses for effect. "What do you want to bet the paying account will match the information we pulled out of your flower bed this morning."

Deeks ran a hand through his hair. "If it does, it's only because I'm being set up. I have no idea where those documents came from."

"How about we move to something a little more recent then? How about where were you the evening of January 22, 2016?"

Deeks blinks at him, momentarily thrown off. "Uh, what day of the week was that?"

"Friday."

"I was in Washington. My partner and I spent four days in Washington taking some tactical courses out of the Navy Yard. Professional development and all that. We stayed in off base housing right outside the Navy Yard."

"We know. Now, tell me about Friday."

Outside the interrogation room, Kensi swore under her breath, but Callen heard.

"What?"

"I went out for drinks with Abby. Girls only; her rule. When I got back to the hotel, Deeks was asleep. The next morning he said he'd gone for a walk and then crashed early."

"So, whatever they want him for..."

"No alibi."

Inside the interrogation room, Deeks tells them the same thing.

"So, you're saying, between the hours of seven and midnight, you were alone and have no alibi."

"No alibi for what?"

"Please answer the question."

"Yes, I was alone."

"So, you were alone for five hours, giving you plenty of time to murder NCIS Intelligence Analyst Christopher Boyd."

"I have no idea who that is."

"He's the intelligence analyst who had just recently contacted our taskforce saying he had information pertinent to our investigation. He was killed before he could tell a thing."

Deeks rolls his eyes. "Well, I'm sorry for your loss. Sounds like you're really broken up over it."

"He was killed less than two miles from where you were staying."

"I didn't kill him."

Winters pulls several pieces of paper from his folder this time. He starts with laying several grainy security camera pictures down in front of Deeks. "Cameras in the area caught these shots of the killer. Look familiar?"

"This could be anyone. The resolution is far too poor to make out features."

"How about this one?" He lays down a final image capture. This photo still is taken from the back. The suspect is wearing dark cloths over his tall frame. His head is turned away from the camera, but his longer blonde hair is easily visible.

Deeks sighs. "I agree it looks like me. But it's _not_ me."

Winters ignores him. He lays down a forensics report in front of Deeks. "Forensics found traces of sand on the victim."

Deeks raises an eyebrow. "Sand? That's not exactly unusual..."

Winters smirks. "Sand from the pacific coast. Narrowed it down to the California area." He pauses for a moment. "You're a surfer, aren't you, Mr. Deeks?"

Deeks runs a hand through his hair.

Winters doesn't wait for him to answer. "And when we confirmed your registration in the tactical classes, we found out it was a last minute registration. Funny how Christopher Boyd contacts us to provide information. And the next moment you register yourself in a course across the country, for the first time, might I add. And then Christopher Boyd is dead."

"I didn't kill him," Deeks insists.

"Strange, though, an LAPD detective flying across the country last minute to take an NCIS tactical class."

Deeks runs his hand through his hair again. "I went as an NCIS liaison. _With_ my partner."

"And you have no alibi."

Deeks finally gives up and buries his face in his hands. "I thought it would be nice to have a quiet night to myself." He mumbles through his hands.

Outside the interrogation room, Kensi has resumed her pacing. Callen didn't try to stop her and one glance her direction tells him not to bother trying now. Her face is tightly controlled. What emotions she's suppressing, Callen can't begin to guess.

Sam appears at the side door and makes his way over to Callen.

"Find anything out?" Callen asks, "Because we're not doing very well over here. They're stacking evidence against him."

"I know," Sam says. "We had the video feed up in OPs. Eric and Nell are cross checking every piece of evidence they bring forward against him."

"What did Eric know about Detective Monroe's death?"

"Not much more than Winters brought up. Detective Monroe was undercover for ten months. Joint LAPD-FBI operation. FBI had point, but their guys didn't make it past the front door. Monroe was the only operator to successfully infiltrate the cartel. He made a scheduled check in and provided enough information that they planned a total takedown within two weeks. Within forty eight hours he was compromised and killed. Cartel shipped out, left his body strung up as a statement. Theory is his identity was sold for cash. Like Deeks said, LAPD blamed the FBI. The FBI blamed LAPD. The leak was never traced."

"There can't be a lot of people who had access to that information."

"Not during the operation. But once they had enough to take down the cartel, more were brought into the fold in preparation for the takedown. That's when the leak happened."

"Deeks works with us; he doesn't have anything to do with LAPD operations not related to NCIS. He wouldn't have been given that information."

"FBI's theory is that LAPD's servers are less secure. Easy for anyone to access once the information was out there for the taking."

Callen sighs. "And Deeks, theoretically has access to that information."

Sam nods. "I've got Eric digging into Winters. From what we've gathered so far, he's got his eyes on a top position, but doesn't have the fortitude to actually get there. Heading this taskforce and taking down the mole would be a huge career win for a man like Winters."

"Enough for him to blindly chase an innocent man?"

Sam shrugs. "Maybe even enough to set him up. He's made a few minor mistakes in previous cases, rumour is he's covered up larger mistakes. Eric's going to find out everything he can, but it could be promising."

Callen nods, but is quickly distracted by a taskforce member, Agent Andrews, getting off his phone, smiling confidently. He then strides towards the interrogation room. "This can't be good."

Andrews knocks and then opens the door without waiting for an answer.

"Yes?" Winters asks.

"Forensics just called."

"And?"

"Multiple finger print matches found on the documents we found this morning." He smirks.

Winters mirrors his smirk and turns to Deeks. "So, your fingerprints are all over the documents you claim never to have seen which were found buried in the flowed bed outside your front door. How do you explain that?"

Deeks momentarily looks like a deer caught in headlights. He swallows hard and shakes his head. "I don't know," he says quietly.

Winters motions to Andrews. "It's time for handcuffs."

Outside the interrogation room, Callen stares in shock as Andrews steps into the room with handcuffs. Deeks argues, but it's half-hearted. Callen wants to intervene, but knows he has no grounds to do so without some piece of evidence to help their case. Their faith in their team member alone is not enough. He looks over to Director Vance for direction. Vance shakes his head, telling Callen he won't be intervening either this time.

"How did they get a fingerprint match?" Sam asks.

"Either someone paid someone off in the forensics lab," Callen says, "Or..." He trails off.

Sam sighs, "Or his fingerprints are actually on those documents."

Callen takes a breath and looks around the room. Kensi has momentarily stopped pacing and is staring up at the video screen as she watches her partner and lover handcuffed and read his rights. Her expression is a mask of nothingness. Agent Carter, from the LA Field office, approaches her and says a few words. She nods and thanks him before he moves away. Agent Fischer moves in as well, still somewhat bumbling and out of place. He seems to be reassuring her by promising again that he will look into Winters through his FBI contacts. She thanks him, too, but her eyes don't leave the screen.

Callen looks back to Sam. "Did Eric have any idea where the accounts were from or what the codes meant?"

"There were three accounts. All offshore. Lots of legal tape to jump through to track down names and records. Eric's going to try to hack it, but he's not too encouraged. The codes he has no idea; has all of his little high tech programs trying to break them, but he doesn't think they're standard codes. There were eleven codes. All different lengths. Most had numbers and letters. One only letters. Two had other symbols. Three had capital and small letters, while the rest all had capital letters. One had what looks like a backwards four." Sam shakes his head.

"Maybe it's shorthand that makes sense to the person who wrote it."

Sam lowers his voice. "It looks like his writing, G." He pulls out his phone and shows Callen a photo he had taken.

"Let me see," Kensi's voice surprises them both. In their distraction, she had approached and was standing right in front of them.

Sam holds his phone away from her. "Kensi, we don't know what this means."

"Let me see it," she repeats. "I'll know better than anyone if it's his writing."

Sam sighs and hands her the phone.

She stares at the photo of the codes for a long moment, her jaw clenched, and then she takes a deep shuddering breath. She gives them a sharp nod. "It's his," she whispers.

"Kensi," Sam holds out a hand as if he's going to lay it on her forearm for support. She brushes him off with a shake of the head. "No," she whispers. She shoves his phone into his hand instead. She crosses her arms over her chest. Callen notices this time she's not clutching her engagement ring.

"So, the documents must have been his," Sam says gently. "I'm sure there's an explanation for them. In our line of work, having an escape plan is a good thing. A necessary evil."

"_We_ have an escape plan," she whispers, reminding them of their earlier conversation, "Together."

"Maybe it's left over from an assignment he had before us?"

"Why would he bury it?"

"I don't know, okay?" Callen finally feels his calm snap a little bit. On the video screen, the taskforce has finished handcuffing Deeks. They've left him on his chair and are trailing out of the room. If this was Callen's case, he'd do the same thing right now; give the suspect time to panic. It's a good tactic. Panicking suspects were much more likely to give up information.

Kensi turns from them. Callen thinks she hurrying for the privacy of the bathroom. She's within a couple feet of the interrogation room door before he realizes he's wrong. The only person close enough to try and stop her is Agent Winters, who learns the truth to Callen's earlier words. He earns a swift kick to the groin for his attempt to stop her. With his crumpled body across the hallway, Kensi is able to let herself into the interrogation room, grab one of the chairs and use it to jam up under the doorknob before anyone else can get to the door.

Langford and Fischer help Winters to his feet and over to the couch while Agent Andrews yells angrily through the door and experimentally presses his shoulder against it to test how hard he would need to hit it to get through.

"Leave her be," Vance calls.

"But, Sir," Andrews argues.

Vance shakes his head. His expression is dark. "If anyone's going to get him to talk, it's her. Leave her be."

Inside the room, Kensi sits in the remaining seat across from Deeks. Deeks sits quiet and defeated, arms handcuffed behind him. After a moment, she shakes her head and moves the chair around the table so she is beside him. "I know you, Deeks," she murmurs. "Talk to me."

He sighs and stares down at the table.

She runs her hand up and down his upper arm a few times and then across his back and down. "Please talk to me, Deeks. I don't know how much time I have."

"You shouldn't be in here," he whispers.

Kensi tenses, but presses on. "I'll always be here for my partner. That's how we roll, right?"

Deeks stiffens, but manages a quick nod. "How we roll," he mumbles.

"I'm doing everything I can to help you. We all are. But something else has to be going on here. And only you can give us that information."

He shakes his head. "I don't have any information to give."

She withdraws her hand from him. "Please, Deeks. Please, at least will you look at me."

He keeps staring down at the table.

Kensi swallows. "It's okay if you had an escape plan that didn't involve me," she says, even though her voice cracks a bit. "I understand. But if that's why you won't admit to the documents being yours, you need to come clean. I'll be okay with it."

"They're not mine," he says. He's still looking at the table and not her.

Her brow furrows for a moment. "They've been there for years," she presses. "Your fingerprints are all over them." She swallows. "The codes are in your handwriting."

He looks at her then.

She nods. "I know you, Deeks. I'd know your chicken scratch anywhere," she tries to joke, but it falls flat.

His jaw tenses, but he says nothing. His gaze tightens on her ever so slightly, but he doesn't look away. He makes no motion to laugh at her attempted joke.

She stares into his eyes for a long moment, and then her lips part and she shudders on her exhale. "Oh," she breathes.

"Kens," he whispers her name, but she's leaning backwards now - away from him.

"You really wanted to go to that tactical class," she states, as if she's running through the memory in her head.

"I..." he starts, but trails off.

"You had that black sweatshirt with you on that trip," she murmurs. "It didn't come home. I joked that you could lose anything..."

"Kensi..."

Her chest heaves. "You got rid of it on purpose," she whispers.

Deeks shakes his head. "I didn't," he says, but his denial is weak.

She leans forward, tears now welling in her eyes. But she's still able to meet his gaze evenly. "Tell me I'm wrong, Deeks. Tell me I know you...that you would never do this." She begs.

He stares back at her, silent, but his eyes are darting between hers. His jaw is clenching and unclenching as if he'd trying to form words. Outside the room, there is nothing but silence. All eyes are glued to the scene unfolding before the many agents. Deeks continues to work his jaw as Kensi stares him down; a sure sign he's about the break.

Callen glances to his partner. Sam looks just as stricken as Callen feels. There are no words exchanged. What could they possibly say as they watch their friends and co-workers' relationship fall to pieces before them?

"Every time I bring up you becoming an agent, you put me off," she whispers.

"I'm a cop."

"No, you're not. And you know it." She sucks in a trembling breath. "You _never _have a good reason. Always an excuse."

Deeks takes a series of short breaths, almost looking panicky, before he manages to get his breathing back under control. "Kensi. Please."

Kensi's crying in earnest now. "What about me, Deeks? Please tell me I was more to you than a source of information."

"Of course, I..." He trails off on his own. His eyes are filled with desperation and fear now.

She pulls the chain holding her engagement ring off of her neck and holds it out between them. "Was this all just a game to you? Just one giant cover? Was I just another source of information?"

"Kens..." He refuses to look at the ring.

She shakes the ring between them. "Does this mean anything to you?"

He opens his mouth, but no words come out. He closes his mouth and stares at her, guilt written plainly all over his face.

"Did you ever plan to marry me?" She whispers.

"You weren't part of the plan." He finally breaks. It's not loud, not dramatic, not particularly powerful. But it's heartbreaking to watch.

Kensi's eyes close and her body shudders. Broken.

Outside the room, Callen is suddenly reminded of that TS Eliot quote Hetty once said to him. _This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper._

_**AN: Thank you for reading this far. Please stick with me! Keep in mind 3 things - the name of this story, that I would never disgrace these characters, and that chapter 3 will be up in a day or two and will provide some answers...**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**AN: Wow! I was floored by the response to the last chapter. Thanks for the feedback and the faith you've all put in me. I didn't want to make you wait any longer than absolutely necessary for this chapter, so at least there will be the beginnings of some answers here. That being said, chapter 4 won't be up quite as quickly (2-3 days?). Entire story is looking to be 6-7 chapters total.**_

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><p>"You weren't part of the plan," He finally breaks.<p>

Kensi's eyes close and her body shudders. The textbook example of a woman broken and betrayed by her partner. She practically slumps back in her seat, and inhales sharply several times. Then she opens her eyes.

They stare at each other for a long moment afterwards. She has long streams of tears down both cheeks. His eyes are welling with their own tears. Finally he looks away. He glances at the camera and then shakes his head in defeat. He shifts in his chair, but the movement reminds him of his handcuffs and his inability to physically reach out to her.

"You weren't part of the plan," he repeats, his voice is dull and quiet. Defeated. "You were just supposed to be my partner. I needed to get close to you to earn your trust, use you to earn the trust of the team."

Kensi swipes at her face, wiping away the tears, but says nothing.

Deeks takes a long breath. "But I fell in love with you."

Kensi shakes her head and moves to stand up.

"No, please," he begs. "You need to understand. I was alone. For so long, I was alone." He hesitates for a moment and then sighs and continues. "I was approached by a man, years ago, and asked for information. It was low level. Insignificant... I knew it was wrong, but he paid well." Deeks pauses and swallows hard. "And I had nothing. My whole life I had fought for everything I had. And I was stuck in the LAPD, where everything was so fucking grey and cops around me were getting away with so much crap. So, I took his money." He licks his lips. "But then I was in too deep before I understood what was going on."

Kensi sits back in her chair and closes her eyes.

"He asked me to try to catch the attention of a federal agency. I volunteered for every undercover op I could that I thought would cross paths with one. Finally you guys took notice. Being offered the liaison position was a blessing and a curse. I expected you guys to treat me like the LAPD. But I...I found a home. For the first time in my life, I found a home."

"And you sold us out," she says coldly, the hurt in her heart burning in her tone.

"I tried to say no. But he threatened me."

"You could have come to us."

"I didn't want to admit what I'd done." He sniffs. "I was ashamed."

She stares at him for a long moment and then gives a stiff nod. "You should be."

"Kensi, please."

This time she does stand. She drags her chair back to the other side of the table.

"Kensi, please," he says again. "I love you. I know you love me."

"You don't get to use that against me," she tells him. "The man I love doesn't exist."

"You weren't part of the plan," Deeks repeats. "But you made me want to be better."

"You killed a man six weeks ago," she says bluntly.

"I...didn't want to." Deeks stares down at the table. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

"It was never supposed to happen at all," she whispers. "Good bye, Deeks," she says, leaving him sitting there as she turns for the door. She pulls the chair out from under the handle and lets herself out of the room.

Callen and Sam are waiting for her on the other side of the door. Sam pulls her into a strong hug without hesitation. Callen's right there with a hand on her shoulder.

"What can we do?" Callen asks. He's confused and angry at Deeks, but right now his focus is on Kensi. He'll deal with the rest once he makes sure she is okay.

"Get me out of here," Kensi pleads.

"Done."

Seeing as her home is closed off, and would also only serve to remind her of Deeks's betrayal, they take her back to OPs. Callen drives her in the SRX with Sam close behind. Kensi is silent for the entire drive. When they arrive, Nell and Hetty meet them at the door. Nell tries to hug Kensi, but Kensi brushes her off.

"I just need some space right now," she whispers, avoiding meeting anyone's gaze.

"It's alright, my dear," Hetty soothes. "Right now, you can have whatever you need."

Kensi nods and shuffles into the lounge area. She curls herself into a chair, facing away from them.

"We watched the..." Nell starts and then quickly trails off. "We saw what happened on the video feed."

Callen nods. "So did we."

"I still can't believe it."

"Mr. Deeks is a damn good operator," Hetty says. "I for one will admit he had me fooled."

"How badly have we been compromised?" Sam asks.

"I have Eric operating in shadow mode upstairs. He's going through all of our secure files to determine what information Mr. Deeks may have accessed. I'm sure it will take several hours or more."

"What do we do for Kensi?" Nell asks.

"Everything we can," Hetty says sadly.

Callen turns to stare at the defeated agent he's worked with for more than eight years. He knows after this she'll never be able to trust another partner or man in her life again. And being the partner of a dirty cop will stick with her for the rest of her career, especially considering she was open about her personal relationship with him. He feels a swell of anger on her behalf.

"Right now, we leave her be to try to begin processing everything that has happened," Hetty continues. "Nell, why don't you work at a station down here while Eric is busy upstairs. See if you can access LAPD records and determine if there is any information Mr. Deeks may have recently obtained that could compromise any of their ongoing cases."

"Okay. Should we be contacting them to...let them know?"

Hetty shakes her head. "Not quite yet. We should have more information first. I'll handle that when it comes time."

Nells nods her agreement and heads over to the computer terminal to work.

"And you two," Hetty addresses Callen and Sam. "I believe you have paperwork from our last case to finish."

Callen actually feels his jaw drop open at her words. "Paperwork? Hetty, are you kidding me?"

"Our lives just got turned upside down in the last six hours and you want us doing paperwork?" Sam adds on.

She nods. "I'm sure in the coming days and weeks there will be inquires as to Mr. Deeks's involvement in our cases and how badly we were compromised. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about that until Eric is finished his analysis and the taskforce is finished with Mr. Deeks. Right now it's best to finish what we can so later we can focus on what's going on with Mr. Deeks."

Callen wants to argue, but finds he has no argument. Hetty's right; they have nothing better to be doing.

Hetty lowers her voice. "Plus, I'd like for you to stick close to Ms. Blye. Right now she needs space, but soon she will need the support of her team." Hetty gives a sad nod. "The remainder of her team, that is. She will need to know there are still people in this world she can trust."

Callen nods. He and Sam turn for their desks. Sam sits, but Callen hesitates and glances over at Kensi's sullen form, still curled in on herself on the chair. He bypasses the desks for the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water for Kensi. On his way back to her, he makes sure to make noise so she's not startled by his approach.

"Hey, Kens," he says quietly. He holds out the bottle.

She keeps her eyes downcast and her hair is blocking most of her face. She's absently toying with the ring hanging on the chain around her neck. "Thank you," she says quietly, taking the water with her free hand.

"We're here for you," he says quietly. "When you need us, we're here."

"Thank you," she says again.

He hesitates for a moment and then retreats.

Sam looks up from his desk and they share a worried look.

"She's not going to recover from this," Callen voices.

Sam shakes his head. "No, she's not. She'll never be the same. But we'll remind her every day that we're here and she can trust us."

"She thought she could trust Deeks."

"We all did," Sam says, shaking his head. His expression tells Callen he's just as shocked as Callen. And he's probably fighting to process it, just like Callen still is, too.

Callen turns for his desk, but catches sight of Granger speaking with Hetty. He must have just arrived at OPs from the boatshed. He heads over to them instead. They're speaking in quiet tones, and pause when Callen approaches, but make no move to send him away. They even wait for Sam to walk over as well. Still curled in her chair, hand clutched in front of her chest, Kensi glances at them, but makes no move to get up and approach. Instead, she looks away.

Granger shakes his head at the broken agent. "I didn't always agree with his behaviour, but I never questioned his loyalties, or his integrity."

"Neither did we," Hetty responds.

Granger sighs and turns his attention to Sam and Callen. "I was just telling Henrietta that Deeks is being transported to the LA field office for processing. After you left with Kensi he refused to provide any additional information without a deal. He's willing to give up the man he answers to, along with all of the information he compromised."

"What kind of deal?" Sam asks.

"Limited prison time. Consideration for the good work he's done with us and with the LAPD."

"They can't turn a blind eye to treason and murder," Sam mutters.

"No, they can't. And they won't. But Deeks is smart. And he's a lawyer. And he knows we need this information. He knows how the system works better than most."

Callen absorbs Granger's words and isn't sure how he feels about them. He wants the man who hurt Kensi to pay, but he finds he doesn't like the thought of Deeks in prison.

When Granger has no more new information to share, Hetty shoos them back to their desks. They go without argument this time. Kensi is still on the chair. She glances at them as they walk by, but she doesn't ask what news Granger brought with him.

Callen opens his laptop and tries to focus on his paperwork, but his mind won't let him. He keeps going back and forth between the agent who has worked with Deeks for six years, and trusts him implicitly, to Kensi's friend who just watched her discover everything she thought she knew about her partner and lover was false.

He feels the knowledge of Deeks's innocence with the frustration of not being able to prove it, and then he hears Deeks tell Kensi she _wasn't part of the plan_. He sees Kensi slowly break apart as Deeks admits his sins to her in the interrogation room. And he feels anger. But then he looks across the bullpen at Deeks's vacant desk and remembers the man who has sat there for just shy of six years. And his anger fades, because he _knows_ Deeks. The man who followed Callen to Romania, the man who gave up himself and his weapon to save Callen's partner. Callen turns to stare at Kensi's quiet form. Deeks was the man who more times than he can count was prepared to lay down his life for his partner's.

He runs a hand over the scruff on his face, struggling to make sense of his conflicting emotions.

He's an hour into 'doing paperwork,' and he gives up. Something isn't adding up, and his brain isn't going to allow him to focus on anything else until he figures it out.

Deeks had said he'd gotten in too deep, and then been trapped providing information. But that just didn't make sense. He didn't have the personality to sell any level of information in the first place. Callen can remember Deeks not being able to hide from Kensi that he'd eaten one of her twinkies once. The man had an integrity and a sense of honesty that just didn't account for his explanation.

There had to be some other explanation. Was Deeks maybe protecting them from something?

He glances at Kensi again. He'd hurt her, sure, but maybe he was protecting her, too? Take the fall so your loved one is safe? Now _that_ sounded more like the Deeks he knew.

He glances at his partner. Sam is already staring at him. The look on his face tells him Sam is having similar thoughts. Sam gets up and walks around the desks. He drops into Kensi's desk chair beside Callen.

"I don't buy it," Sam says quietly. "After everything he's done for us? With us?" Sam shakes his head, his head probably reminding him of Deeks's loyalty while being tortured, of Deeks's consistent sense of integrity.

Callen nods. "Do you think he's caught up in something...maybe something that followed him from LAPD and he's taking the fall the protect us? To protect Kensi?"

Sam takes a breath and then nods slowly. "I think that makes a lot more sense. That could account for the hidden documents."

"His LAPD assignments, interaction with NCIS, everything they think was purposeful could really just be coincidence," Callen adds.

"He has access to NCIS and LAPD information. But he's not the _only_ one who could access it. LAPD _does_ have less secure servers. Eric hacks them practically every week."

"Plus, Detective Monroe's death from that intelligence breach could be a completely isolated breach."

"Good point."

"There's just..." Callen trails off.

Sam sighs. "The fact that he killed someone. He didn't deny it when Kensi accused him."

"Not just someone; an NCIS intelligence analyst."

"Do we know anything about him?"

"Just that he's an intelligence analyst working out of the Navy Yard. Clean record."

"Okay," Sam starts. "Assuming he actually killed him. Maybe he was part of whatever Deeks is caught up in? Maybe he had no choice?"

Callen started to nod and then shook his head. "If he was that deep into something he would have come to us."

"Or at least to Kensi."

Sam's words trigger a spark in Callen's head. He turns his head and stares at Kensi's still form. "If he was stuck in something, she would know," he says quietly.

"She was as surprised as we were today," Sam points out. "She behaved-"

Callen turns his head back to face Sam quickly. "She behaved exactly as would be expected. She paced and she acted agitated. She checked in with us once in a while to _see where we were at_. She wasn't looking for support, she was looking for information. She was looking for sit reps."

Sam stares at him for a moment as his thought process catches up.

"Something else is going on, Sam," Callen practically demands his partner to understand. "Kensi should be pissed right now. The Kensi we know would be in the shooting range or destroying a punching bag right now. The Kensi we know would be plotting Deeks's demise right now. But she's 'taking space' without actually being away from anyone."

Sam let his gaze travel over to Kensi's still form and then back to Callen. "Hetty has us doing paperwork," he says.

"No, Hetty has us _waiting_."

Sam nods. "Only we don't know what we're waiting for."

"Kensi was in that room with Deeks the moment the taskforce left him alone." Callen shakes his head as he figures it out. "I thought it was a desperate play, but now..."

"It was calculated." Sam shakes his head and then turns to stare at Kensi for a long moment. He looks back at Callen. "Could that conversation have been for show?"

"How many times have we sent them undercover to play a fighting couple?"

"I don't know, G, that was different. I don't know that you can fake that kind of emotion."

"You can if you have to." He moves to stand, but Sam catches his arm.

"What if we're wrong?"

"Do you really think Deeks is a dirty cop?"

Sam shakes his head, but still looks uncertain about confronting Kensi.

"She put the ring back on," he states, realization suddenly setting in.

"What?"

Callen practically laughs as the pieces come together. "When she was in interrogation with him, she took the chain off her neck." He motions to Kensi's still form. Her hand is still clutched above her chest. "She put it back on. _After_ she _apparently_ found out he was a dirty cop. And she hasn't let go of it since she got here. She's in on it."

Sam stares at Kensi for a long moment and then looks back to Callen. And then he smiles. "We're not wrong."

"No, we're not wrong."

Callen walks quietly over to Kensi. He knows she doesn't hear him approach because she flinches when he crouches down beside her. "How you doing, Kens?"

She looks down at her lap. One hand is still clutching the ring over her chest. "Fine," she says quietly.

"Do you need anything?"

She shakes her head.

"Granger got here almost two hours ago. Didn't you want to know what was going on with Deeks?"

Kensi tenses and almost looks at him, but then shakes her head. She looks far more worried than devastated, and Callen is even more confident he's right.

"Or do you already know? Was it part of the plan for him to ask for a deal, knowing it would force him to be transported to the LA field office the moment we left the boatshed?"

This time she does look at him. She grits her teeth and releases a breath.

"What's the point in him being transported?" He thinks back to the day, the people in the boatshed with them, to Kensi's determination to lock herself in the interrogation room with Deeks. He remembers how he acted as if he didn't want to speak with her at first, how she pulled up her chair beside him, leaned in close, a hand on his back, and coaxed him.

"G," Sam warns gently.

Callen shakes his head. He _knows_ he's right. She distracted everyone by acting like she was coaxing words from him, all the while she had her hand behind his back, out of sight of the camera. "What did you give him when you first got into the room with him?"

Kensi says nothing, but Callen swears he sees the corners of her mouth twitch.

He thinks back to that morning. Deeks had handed over his main service weapon and backup to Vance, but he had passed his sayoc knife to Kensi. _Because it had been a gift from her_, he had said.

He almost smiles. "Where's Deeks's knife?"

The corners of her mouth twitch again.

"That's what you gave him, right?"

Finally she allows her expression to break and a small, tired smile to win its way through. "And a handcuff key," she whispers.

In a moment, Sam is crouched on the floor beside him. Together, they crowd into Kensi's space.

Kensi swings her legs and sits upright, facing them, and shakes her head. "I knew we wouldn't be able to convince you for long." She looks at them both apologetically. "I'm sorry we had to lie to you. But we needed you to believe it to make sure everyone else believed it. And after six years, we knew the only way you would believe it was if _I_ believed it."

Sam released a breath of tension. "You put on a good show."

Callen shook his head. "You were right. We were right there with you. It was only when you looked like you doubted him that we did."

Kensi nodded. "We needed you to react exactly the way you did. And then we needed you to leave with me, because we knew you wouldn't believe it forever. We'd hoped at least a little longer than now. We're not sure how long we need to wait now. You can't let on to anyone else that you know."

"Who else is in on this?"

"Just Hetty and Vance."

"Not Granger?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"So, what the hell is going on?"

Kensi opens her mouth, but quickly closes it, her attention suddenly on something past Callen and Sam. She inhales sharply and then releases the breath slowly. The worry in her eyes falls away with the tension in her shoulders.

Callen doesn't have to turn to know her partner is standing behind them. He does anyway, to find Deeks and Vance walking into OPs together. He's glad to see Deeks is no longer handcuffed, but he's shocked to see the detective sporting the beginnings of a black eye, with a sizeable gash across his cheek. The arm of his shirt is torn, as well as a slash across his chest. And there's what looks like dried blood on his right arm.

Kensi stands and strides over to the doorway to meet Deeks. "Are you okay?"

He offers his partner a lopsided grin. "I had everything under control."

"Is it over?"

He nods.

"It's over," Vance answers for him. "He did a fantastic job. We gained far more information than we could ever have hoped for."

Kensi smiles at that and reaches out her hand to brush at the torn fabric of his shirt, as if trying to ascertain the damage underneath. "You're sure you're okay?"

"I'm good, Kens," he soothes, and he wraps her into a tight hug.

They murmur quietly to each other as they remain wrapped in each other's arms, uncaring of their surroundings.

Callen breathes a sigh of relief at the dichotomy from the partners' last interaction. Then he looks to Vance. "What the hell is going on?"


	4. Chapter 4

_**AN: I am so sorry this took so long to post. Right after chapter three went up, I had a minor family emergency (well, more than minor, but not quite 'emergency' status, but that's the most suitable term I can come up with). I've been dealing with that for the past several weeks and just haven't had time to write, or been in the head space to be capable of writing. I'm so glad I managed to post chapter 3 before this all happened, so at least there were no ongoing doubts about Deeks's loyalties... I really want to say thank you to everyone who has been reading and leaving such wonderful comments so far...I will catch up on replying to reviews as soon as I can, but I thought everyone would prefer I focus on the chapter first. I've really enjoyed writing this story so far and think I'm in a place to get on track with regular updates - next chapter is more than half finished and I'm hopeful to update again in the next week.**_

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><p>The moment Kensi catches sight of her partner over Callen and Sam's shoulders, she feels like she can breathe again. She'd played her part at the boatshed, and she knew he was playing his part as well. And she knew they'd both done a damn good job doing their jobs. But she hated not being there to back him up after. She hated even more that none of the team was there backing him up; that none of the team even knew what was really going on. To make this work, he needed to be isolated. Needed to look vulnerable and rejected by his team. She'd ensured that. The last part of her job had been making a scene, leaving the boatshed and making sure Sam and Callen left with her, leaving Deeks alone.<p>

He walks in the Mission at Vance's side now, looking only a little worse for wear. They knew it could happen at any time, so she's relieved it was only hours and not days, but she's instantly worried he's hurt. His face is bruised, he's bleeding, his shirt is torn, and she's pretty sure he's limping.

Quickly, she stands, steps around Callen and Sam, who are still crouched on the floor in front of her, and hurries over to meet him.

"Are you okay?" She asks.

He offers her a lopsided grin. "I had everything under control."

Considering his appearance, she doesn't quite believe him, but she'll let him have this one. "Is it over?"

Deeks nods.

"It's over," Vance answers for him with a proud and grateful smile. He pats Deeks on the shoulder. "He did a fantastic job. We gained far more information than we could ever have hoped for."

Deeks looks proud of his praise, but also a little embarrassed by the attention. Kensi smiles at both the praise and his reaction to it. She reaches her hand out to check out the ripped areas of his shirt, or more importantly to determine how bad the damage is underneath. The rip over his chest seems mostly superficial, but she's pretty sure the rip over his arm is responsible for the dried blood further down his arm.

"You're sure you're okay?" She asks worriedly.

"I'm good, Kens," he soothes, and wraps his arms around her. Despite the fact that they are standing in the middle of the Mission, and despite the fact that she knows her director _and_ assistant director are watching _and _Hetty, Callen and Sam, Kensi snakes her arms around his middle and hugs him back.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she whispers.

He releases a hot breath along the side of her neck. "Trust me, Kens, I'm not going anywhere. I've got too much to live for."

She smiles into his chest. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

She presses herself a little closer, smiling when he hugs her that much closer. Despite the fact that she knew what was going on all day and never once actually doubted him, she still had to pull up all the right emotions to make her side of the show believable. Just as she knew he had to do the same. And right now they just need a moment to heal from that.

"I hated saying those things to you," Deeks finally whispers.

She nods. "I know. Me too. The man I love definitely exists."

"He does," Deeks says with more integrity than she can ever remember hearing. "And I would never take advantage of you or _us_ or your love and trust," he promises in a moment of uncharacteristic seriousness.

"I know, Deeks. I know," she assures.

"And one more thing." He pulls back far enough to meet her eyes. "I most definitely plan on marrying you."

She smiles at that. "Good. Cause I'm not letting you off the hook that easily."

He smirks and ducks his head to peck her lips.

"If you two are done, the rest of us would appreciate an explanation," Granger cuts in, dryly.

Vance nods towards the stairs. "Why don't we meet upstairs in OPs in five minutes, and we'll go over everything? Eric should be ready for us by then." He, Granger and Hetty head for the stairs.

Kensi smiles as she recognizes the gesture for what it is; time for the team to regain their bearings.

Deeks kisses her one more time and then releases her. He takes a breath as he turns to face Callen and Sam. "Look guys, I'm sorry things had to go down that way. We couldn't risk bringing you in."

Kensi takes her place beside him. "When you got here, they were just demanding that I tell them what was really going on," she tells him, wanting to make it clear that the other half of their team didn't believe in his treason for very long.

Callen holds out his hand, accepting his apology. "That was a very impressive performance," he tells Deeks.

Deeks accepts with a nod. He shakes Callen's hand. "It had to be. We knew we'd only get once chance to pull this off."

Sam's next, also holding out his hand. "Don't ever do that again."

Deeks shook his head as he shook Sam's hand. "Nope. Playing dirty cop once was bad enough."

Sam sighs. "I know it was designed so we would believe it, but I still feel-"

Deeks shakes his head and holds up a hand. "We counted on the emotional response of you sympathizing with Kensi. We knew if I admitted it to her and she reacted...the way she did...that you would be forced to believe it. We banked on your emotional responses _to Kensi_ not distrust _in me_."

"And that that was the only way you'd believe it," Kensi adds. They'd had many a discussion about the possibilities. And it was one of the two arguments that had allowed him to bring her in on the assignment in the first place. That, and threatening to quit.

"You're right," Callen says. "We were running every piece of information. We were determined you were wrongly accused right up until the moment Kensi apparently didn't believe it."

"We're good undercover interrogation choreographers," Deeks chirps.

Kensi laughs and bumps his hip with hers. "That we are, partner."

"Come on, I know you guys want some answers. Let's go upstairs and give you some."

They follow Callen and Sam up the stairs to OPs.

Nell practically throws herself at Deeks the moment they walk through the doors.

"I'm so sorry, Deeks," She says, throwing her arms around him tightly. "I'm so sorry that I even believed it for a second."

Deeks cautiously pats her on the back. "It's okay, Velma, you were supposed to believe it."

Nell sniffs and pulls away from him.

Deeks walks over to Eric, who looks exhausted, but relieved. Deeks shakes his hand. "Hey man, I hear you were running point today. Thanks for getting me out safe."

Eric nods. "Hetty told me what was going on right before. Thanks for not being a spy."

Deeks laughs. "No problem."

They gather around the table in the centre of the room.

"Okay," Vance starts. "I'm sorry for the deception today, but it was for a worthy cause, I assure you. As Detective Deeks has explained, your reactions and belief in his guilt was key. We needed to made it appear to each party present that you all believed in his guilt. To do so, we designed a scenario where the hope was you would have an emotional reaction to Agent Blye's reaction. And we were successful."

"Successful in doing what, exactly?" Callen asks.

"Forcing a mole to identify himself."

"Was it Winters?" Kensi asks.

Vance shakes his head.

"I'm almost disappointed. He deserves to have his ass handed to him after what he said about me."

"Don't worry, Kens, I think that kick you gave him was punishment enough," Sam points out.

Callen laughs. "He couldn't even walk to the couch. He practically had to be carried."

Deeks laughs. "Is that what happened to him? I was wondering why he was walking strange, but I couldn't ask because I was stuck pretending to be trying to save my own ass."

"He deserved it," Kensi declares. "Plus, he tried to stop me from getting into the room with you, so technically it was part of my cover."

"And that's the story we will go with, Agent Blye," Vance says, though he's smiling as he says it. "But let's start at the beginning. About five years ago, it came to my attention that we may have a problem. There were three separate and relatively minor security breaches reported that year. All seemed isolated and insignificant, but a conversation with the director of homeland security and the FBI confirmed they had similar breaches. I began to investigate the possibility of not only an individual mole, but an intelligence hacking network operating not only within NCIS, but within multiple federal agencies." He pauses for a moment to allow that to sink in.

"I spent several months brainstorming with other directors. I also spoke with Hetty during a visit here. Hetty suggested a mole will always find another mole."

"So you gave him Deeks."

"I chose a handful of agents and intelligence assets, as well as Detective Deeks, to take part in this assignment. We knew it would be quite a long term operation and may never result in anything. But we chose people we could trust and started dropping breadcrumbs. At first, the idea was to identify trusted individuals and augment their backgrounds in the hope they would be approached and recruited." Vance pauses for a moment to allow that to sink in.

"But we didn't know how intricate the web," Hetty steps in. "For all we knew, the recruitment process could have started long before the moles are already working in positions of power or access to information."

Vance nods. "Which is why Hetty and I began discussing other options."

"A mole will always find another mole," Callen repeated Vance's earlier statement.

Vance nods again.

"Exactly, Mr. Callen," Hetty says.

"Deeks was one of four individuals chosen to be part of this part of the assignment," Vance explains. "Of course, his position and background made him the most probable to be identified by the responsible network. We tweaked a few things about his background in the electronic records and planted a few things. The hope was a mole would identify him-or-herself to Deeks or one of our targets. We made sure to provide enough extra details to make them each look suspicious if investigated."

Sam chuckles. "The bag of documents."

Vance nods. "Deeks's idea. I was all for it. We set him up with fake IDs and a small amount of cash."

"I made sure to press my fingers really carefully in hopes if they were ever dug up there would be prints. Then I buried them one night around three in the morning."

"What do the codes mean?" Eric asks, looking almost desperate. "I've used every encryption program I have access to, even some I don't _technically_ have access to and-"

Deeks winces. "Yeah, about that... Sorry, man, the codes don't mean anything. I spent a really long time designing codes that _looked_ like they mean something, but they really are just random strings to throw people off."

Eric looks like he's feeling physical pain.

"Sorry," Deeks says again.

"The account numbers are just random offshore accounts," Vance cuts in. "All in all, a great idea."

"It was really hard not to cheer when they walked in with those evidence bags," Deeks says. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for that to pay off?"

Kensi laughs. "Now I can stop listening to you complain about that stupid bush."

He bumps her hip with his own. "Reminded me of the bag every time I got home."

Vance smiles, but moves on. "At first, we singled out one agent and two intelligence analysts we knew we could trust, but after several months I realized they didn't have the backgrounds needed to catch the suspicion of someone looking into them. Around that time, I was spending a lot of time visiting this office. I saw the trust being built with your liaison officer. After Deeks risked his reputation and position with us and the LAPD on our behalf by pretending to shoot an unarmed man during the Clarence Fisk case, I saw an opportunity. Because, as came up today, Detective Deeks's background can be...manipulated...to fit the kind of story we were wanting to tell." He glances at Deeks, who nods. "But it meant some sacrifice was in order..."

XX

November 2011.

_'You've got a home with NCIS. I see that now.'_

_'I gotta to be honest; I think it's where I belong.'_

_'You're still one of mine...'_

_Deeks ran his hand through his hair as his mind worried over the words he'd exchanged with Bates the week before. In the days since his successful assignment to 'shoot' an unarmed man and get himself re-assigned back to LAPD, Deeks had easily been re-reassigned back to NCIS without any hesitation from LAPD. _

_'I thought they'd fight a lot harder to keep you,' Bates had said to him before he'd known the whole thing had been a setup engineered by NCIS. 'Apparently, you don't belong there either.'_

_The words hadn't caused Deeks to stress at the time because he had known if the situation had been real, NCIS _would_ have fought to keep him. Just like he knew once everything was out in the open and LAPD learned he actually hadn't shot an unarmed man, if LAPD had fought against him returning to NCIS that NCIS would have fought to get him back._

_But once LAPD knew the whole story they hadn't batted an eyelash in sending him back to NCIS. Deeks was grateful Bates recognized he had finally found a home for himself. But still. After all his years of service, LAPD didn't fight to keep him at all._

_LAPD wasn't home._

_Which was why Deeks had been up since four in the morning. And was why he'd spent the last several hours sitting on his couch, holding the NCIS paperwork Hetty had given him six months earlier._

_"What do you think I should do?" He asked._

_Monty, who had spent the last hour laying on the floor, head on his paws, staring at Deeks, lifted his head and wagged his tail at Deeks's voice._

_Deeks sighed and couldn't resist the urge to smile at his dog. "You're cute, but you're not helpful."_

_Monty kept wagging his tail._

_"I found a home with NCIS, even Bates sees that," he said out loud, telling himself he was telling Monty and not talking to himself. "But Bates said I was still one of his..." Deeks sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. "And you have no idea what I'm saying, do you?"_

_Monty got up and walked over to the couch. He sat in front of Deeks and cocked his head ever so slightly._

_Deeks smiled. "I know you want to understand." He showed the dog the papers in his hands. "Hetty gave me these before she left for Romania. I wasn't ready to sign them, but she said to keep them for when I was ready." He paused. "Am I ready now?"_

_Monty cocked his head further._

_Deeks reached forward to rub Monty's ears. "I think I'm ready now," he whispered, as if telling Monty a deeply held secret._

_"LAPD didn't blink when I wanted to go back to NCIS. But NCIS would have fought to get me back. That's home, you know?" In the last week he had easily fallen back into the rhythm of working with his team at NCIS. His partner was still a little mad at him for deceiving her, but he had caught her smiling when he'd unpacked his box of things and returned them to his desk and locker. Sam and Callen, if anything, respected him just a little bit more now that he had proven his loyalty in taking the side of NCIS._

_"And I didn't hesitate to trick everyone at LAPD last week. I would only do that for NCIS."_

_Monty whined and leaned forward to rest his chin on Deeks's knee._

_"I guess that's my answer, huh?"_

_Monty chuffed, causing Deeks to laugh. "I swear, you are the smartest dog in the world."_

_Monty whined again and lifted his head. _

_"I know. You want to go for a walk, huh?"_

_Monty jumped up, tail wagging excitedly._

_Deeks smiled. "Okay. One thing first, and then we'll go for a walk." He placed the NCIS application down on the coffee table and grabbed a pen. And then, with Monty as his witness, he signed his name._

_With a satisfied nod, he left the paperwork on the table and took Monty for a quick walk. When he returned home, he showered and dressed, and then he retrieved the paperwork from the coffee table and headed for the door._

_It was still early when he arrived at work. His team was not in yet, but that was what he had been hoping for. Hetty, also what's he'd been hoping for, was already at her desk._

_She looked up when he arrived, and though he didn't look directly at her as he summoned his nerves, he knew she was tracking his movements. When he was ready, he took a breath and walked over to her desk._

_"Good morning, Mr. Deeks," she greeted._

_"Morning, Hetty," he responded, motioning to the chair before her desk. "You have a minute?"_

_"For you, I have several minutes."_

_He allowed himself a smile as he settled himself into the chair._

_"What can I do for you this morning?"_

_He hesitated for a moment, but in the end realized Hetty both respected openness and probably somehow already knew what he wanted. Mind made up, he took a breath. "I want to become an NCIS agent."_

_As expected, Hetty didn't look surprised at all. But she did smile, and that gave him confidence._

_"I know I wasn't ready when we talked about this last time," he said, "But that you thought so highly of me meant more than I can say, Hetty. I held onto the application, like you said. And I've given it a lot of thought. And after last week... I know where my home is now." He laid the signed paperwork onto her desk. "So, if the offer is still open, I'd like to take it."_

_Hetty was still smiling. "Mr. Deeks, nothing would give me more pleasure right now than to accept your application."_

_Deeks smiled back at her for a moment, but something in her tone and expression niggled at him. His smile fell away. "I'm sensing a _but_..."_

_Hetty nodded. "Very perceptive, Mr. Deeks." She took a moment and then leaned forward, elbows on her desk. "You also have remarkable timing, I must say."_

_"Timing?"_

_"Mmm-hmm." She nods again. "I will explain that in a moment." Again, she paused for a moment. "Mr. Deeks, I will happily accept your application this morning and ensure you are accepted as a fully fledged NCIS agent as quickly as possible if that is what you want. But I would ask that you first listen to a request we have of you before you make your decision."_

_"We?"_

_Hetty nodded. "Yes, we. Myself and Director Vance."_

_Surprised, Deeks sat up a little straighter. "I'm listening."_

_"The director was quite impressed with both your skills and your loyalty to NCIS after last week. As a result, he and I have discussed the possibility of asking you to take part in another assignment, only this one will be much longer term."_

_"How long?"_

_"We're not sure. Likely a year, possibly longer."_

_Deeks exhaled slowly. He'd grown to count on the stability of making it home most nights. "That's a long time to be away, but if-"_

_Hetty shook her head, cutting him off. "You wouldn't be away. You would remain here, being yourself, just as you are now."_

_Deeks felt his brow furrow. "I don't understand."_

_"Let me start from the beginning. We suspect there is a network of individuals working within various federal agencies who are providing secure information to outside sources. So far, the security breaches have been few and relatively minor, but we both know that's not likely to continue forever."_

_"I'm happy to help with that, Hetty, but I don't understand how I fit in?"_

_"What's that saying Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna have been going on about all week? _Like recognizes like._"_

_Deeks nodded._

_"From my experience, a mole will identify another mole; a traitor another traitor."_

_"So, you want me to be...a mole?"_

_Hetty smiled and nodded. "In a matter of speaking. The director and I have identified a handful of individuals within NCIS who can be trusted and who work in roles that allow them access to a variety of information. These individuals have already been approached for this assignment. But they aren't in the unique position you are in, Mr. Deeks. Your background and your current position as our liaison officer has aspects we just cannot duplicate in another planted NCIS employee. Which is why I suggested you to the director."_

_"I look suspicious," he said flatly._

_"You _can_ look suspicious," she corrected gently. "With just a little effort, we can make that work to our advantage. We may even make you look desirable enough for a mole to approach and either try to recruit or blackmail."_

_"What kind of effort?"_

_"Unfortunately, it would involve asking you to remain an LAPD detective and our liaison officer for an indefinite period of time. And when you are questioned about your reasons not to join NCIS, be vague. Your liaison position gives you unique access to local and federal information." She paused and offered him a wry smile. "As you know, it also tends to make you...underestimated by many, especially other federal agencies. Not a redeeming quality for you, I'm sure, but for a mole looking to recruit another, this is a very desirable quality. Also, if investigating you as a potential mole, it looks like a desirable position to be in." She paused for a moment and smiled sadly at his signed NCIS application. "I'd like nothing more than to process this application this morning, Mr. Deeks. This is not a request I make lightly."_

_Deeks took a deep breath before nodding. "I can do this."_

_Hetty nodded gratefully at him. "Are you certain, Mr. Deeks? This could take years. And it may never result in anything. There will be more active investigations ongoing as well. I want you to be clear that I cannot provide you with any timeframe."_

_"I'm clear on that, Hetty," he responded. "This is too important to let go." He swallowed down his disappointment and shrugged. "It's not like it makes a big difference, right? I'll still be working here."_

_"That you will, Mr. Deeks." Hetty lifted his NCIS application off her desk and placed it carefully in her drawer. "And as soon as this assignment is over, I will make sure these are filed."_

_Deeks exhaled slowly as he watched Hetty close her desk drawer, his NCIS Agent future closing with it. "Can I tell Kensi this time?"_

_Hetty shook her head. "Not at this time. Right now this is just between you, the director and myself."_

_XX_

For a moment, there is silence as the implication of the story set in.

And then Sam claps Deeks on the back. "We had no idea."

Deeks nods. "That was the point."

Callen gave him an approving nod, but then turned his attention to Vance and Hetty. "You delayed him becoming an agent for that long? Almost four and a half years?"

"We didn't think it would take this long, Agent Callen," Vance answers first.

"The length of time didn't matter then and it doesn't matter now," Deeks says softly but firmly. "Even if I'd known then how long it would take, it wouldn't have changed my decision."

"The longer it took, the more we realized how intricate the web," Hetty adds. "And with that realization, Mr. Deeks's assignment was more important than ever."

Vance nods his agreement. "About a year after we started, it became clear the situation was more significant than previously believed. Though we weren't able to identify a mole to a specific person, we were able to identify several sets of security breaches to relatively specific position levels and locations. We theorized this network had been operating for years, probably a decade or more, setting themselves up in strategic positions. We had no idea how large of a scale the network was. Or how much information they had filed away over the year. And then Agent McGee, out of the Navy Yard, noticed something interesting," he says. "He noticed each official investigation into each security breach was being monitored. It was then we realized we needed to be more active in our setup." He nods to Deeks.

"We'd discussed how my past could look suspicious, but we needed a way to make it a little more obvious that I had purposefully imbedded myself in NCIS if someone came looking. I came up with the idea to approach Victor Janklow. After a year and a half in prison, and no longer on the drugs, Janklow had evened out a lot. He agreed to make an '_official'_," Deeks makes quotations with his fingers, "statement about 'Jason Wyler' if anyone ever came asking."

"We also set up an account in Mr. Janklow's name and make regular deposits from an offshore account," Hetty added.

Callen nods. "To make it look like Deeks was paying him off."

"Exactly, Mr. Callen. Once we realized how deep this went, we knew once we could start a more active investigation that someone involved in the network would inevitably involve themselves with the investigation. We needed to make it lead to Mr. Deeks when that happened."

"So, I'm assuming you didn't murder NCIS Intelligence Analyst Christopher Boyd?" Nell speaks up.

Deeks laughs. "Not exactly."

"But how did you fake the forensics? And the camera shots?" Eric asks. "Because Nell and I looked into the video footage they have and-"

"It's real," Deeks cuts him off. "I was there. Had to be careful not to let any of the cameras catch my face, but the footage is all real and untampered. It had to be."

"But..." Nell shakes her head. "If you were there... I don't understand."

Deeks and Kensi exchange smiles. Even Vance smiles.

Callen furrows his brow. "What are we missing?"

"What you're missing, Agent Callen, is that Christopher Boyd is alive and well." Vance gives everyone a moment to let his words sink in. "He agreed to be part of this operation is currently on an extended vacation in an undisclosed location. We waited until the tactical class was a couple days away, then we had Boyd contact the taskforce saying he had information. Then we had Blye and Deeks register for the course and fly into Washington for the weekend. Blye went out with Abby Friday night, leaving Deeks several hours to stage a murder. We had Gibbs's team 'investigate,' so it's officially an open case."

"And I really did get rid of my sweatshirt to _get rid of evidence," _Deeks adds. "I stuffed it into a sewer drain...I'm actually disappointed they didn't find it. It was only two blocks away. I made it easy."

Kensi rolls her eyes. "Get over it."

"Hey, I'm out a perfectly good sweatshirt for nothing."

"You purposefully chose your least favourite before we left," Kensi counters.

"No, my least favourite sweatshirt is the green one."

"It's totally the black one."

Deeks shakes his head. "Nope, the green one. Hate it. And it's scratchy. At least the black one was more comfortable."

"If you two can come back to topic..." Sam prompts, though he's smiling.

"Technically, we're not completely off topic," Deeks counters. "This is tangentially related."

"Let's try to stay a little more directly related," Callen says.

"Okay, Kens and went to Washington. I pretended to kill NCIS Intelligence Analyst Christopher Boyd, who is in on the whole thing. I made sure to get caught on camera, but not enough so my face was visible. Director Vance had a trusted team _investigate_," he make air quotes, "who are also in on it, so they could control the level of information released; video, pacific sand on the body, etcetera."

"So," Sam says, "To summarize you started this thing four years ago. Didn't become an NCIS Agent. Augmented your background. Buried some suspicious documents. Made a deal with Victor Janklow. Pretended to murder an Intelligence Analyst. Scared the hell out of us this morning. Am I missing anything?" He glances at his partner.

"What about you friend?" Callen asks. "Detective..."

"Detective Phillip Monroe," Nell jumps in, her memory of the day's events as sharp as ever.

Kensi leans into her partner for support as Deeks releases a sigh. "It's like they said. He was undercover. Joint LAPD-FBI operation. His cover was blown and he was killed. LAPD blames the FBI. FBI blames LAPD. No one really knows where the leak came from."

"We suspect the leak came from the information hacking organization that we have been targeting," Hetty says, "But that has yet to be confirmed."

Deeks runs a hand through his hair. "It was months after he died that we realized the connection. Like I said, Eric was looking into the investigation regularly for me. And one day he mentioned that he noticed he wasn't the only one monitoring the investigation."

"And that's when we knew this was finally coming close to an end," Vance says. "After Hetty's information was compromised, we had confirmation they were operating on the west coast. There was a lull and then two minor security breaches, which we believed were related, but weren't certain. After Detective Deeks reported what Eric had told him, we believed we had enough information to move forward. The NCIS-FBI taskforce had already been assembled after Hetty's information was compromised a year and a half ago. They hadn't made much progress, of course, so we threw them some bread crumbs, knowing their investigation was being closely monitored."

"If they found Deeks, so would this organization," Sam summarized.

"Exactly, Mr. Hanna," Hetty confirmed.

"We made sure there were a few minor inconsistencies that would be caught in initial screening so that he would be investigated further. It was a long process, of course. And when they seemed to have stalled, we finally moved forward and staged the murder of Intelligence Analyst Christopher Boyd. The investigation into Deeks was monitored the entire time," Vance explains. "And this morning, we called for available teams to be at the boatshed."

"You knew the mole would be in the boatshed," Granger concludes.

"Exactly, Owen," Hetty says. "Of course, that meant Mr. Deeks needed to look guilty. And isolated. Ms. Blye was to get herself into the interrogation room alone with him so they could have the conversation they did, with the intention that the team would sympathize with her reaction long enough to believe Mr. Deeks was, in fact, guilty. Then she was to leave the boatshed and take Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna with her."

"Henrietta had already left," Vance adds. "Deeks was to offer a deal, which would result in transport to the LA Field Office."

"And leaving me alone with the mole," Deeks adds. "Because he wouldn't be able to resist."

"That was the plan... But did it work?"

"After four and a half years, of course it worked!" He says with a laugh.

Beside him, Kensi laughs as well. "Who was it?"

Deeks bumps her hip with his. "We have to tell the story in order. No skipping to the last page."

She bumps his hip back, harder than he had hers. "I've been with you on this for over a year. It's not exactly skipping to the last page for me."

"When did you get brought in?" Sam and Callen ask at the same time.

"Ah, partners in sync," Deeks teases.

"Why not from the beginning?" Sam asks.

Kensi glances between Hetty and Deeks as Deeks sighs.

"That," Deeks begins, "Is a very long story..."


	5. Chapter 5

_**AN: Things are getting better in real life, but still taking up a lot of my time... I really appreciate the continued patience and all the wonderful reviews and PMs of support! This chapter delves into the past a lot and was a fun challenge to write. Just a heads up for when you're reading; these snippets are Deeks's thoughts/mindset at **__that__** point in time and change as time progresses. Also, what was planned to be one chapter is already two (and may end up being three...got a little away from me...) as I tell the story of Kensi/Deeks preparing for 'today.'**_

* * *

><p>"When did you get brought in?" Sam and Callen ask Kensi at the same time.<p>

"Ah, partners in sync," Deeks teases.

"Why not from the beginning?" Sam asks.

Kensi glances between Hetty and Deeks as Deeks sighs.

"That," Deeks begins, "Is a very long story..."

000

_**November 2011**_

_"Can I tell Kensi this time?" Deeks asked._

_Hetty shook her head. "Not at this time. Right now this is just between you, the director and myself."_

_**February 2013**_

_"You look like you have something on your mind, Mr. Deeks," Hetty inquired._

_Deeks offered her a soft smile. He had stayed back after the team left in hopes of speaking with Hetty alone. "About the, uh, thing..."_

_Hetty nodded, motioning her understanding of the subject matter._

_"Before it was just, you know, look suspicious and wait and see if I get recruited. But now things have changed."_

_"We're going to be a little more proactive," Hetty voiced. "Are you having second thoughts about the new plan?"_

_"Not about the plan." He shook his head._

_"About Kensi," she surmised._

_He nodded. "Last time I pretended to shoot an unarmed man. I hated lying to her, but we made it look like it could been an honest error in judgement. Hetty, if this plan works - and it's your plan, so in all likelihood it will - this ends with me looking her in the eye and admitting to treason." He pauses to release a slow breath. "I don't know how we come back from that."_

_"Kensi will understand the importance of everything you have done." Hetty gave him a nod and walked away._

_Deeks felt himself deflate as he watched her walk away. "Maybe," he whispered, "But how will she ever trust me again?" _

_**October 2013**_

_"What can I do for you, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty asked._

_Deeks, who had spent the better part of ten minutes pacing by his own desk before stumbling his way over to Hetty's, sighed. "Can we talk?"_

_Hetty motioned to the seat opposite her desk with a nod._

_Deeks sat, but said nothing. He ran his hand through his hair, disconcerted that the words he wished he had just wouldn't come to mind._

_"You seem to be adjusting well now that you have returned to work," Hetty said._

_Deeks absently brushed his fingers against the side of his jaw. "I am," he agreed. It had been a month since he had come back. At first he had felt out of place, but he had gradually settled back down into his normal routine, _with no small amount of support from his partner_._

_"What's on your mind?"_

_He glanced around to ensure privacy. He had waited until everyone else had left for the day as to not draw attention to this conversation. "I wanted to let you know that...even with...you know," he motions to his jaw, "I'm still on board with...everything." He saw the flash of recognition in her eyes and knew he didn't have to explain further._

_Hetty nodded her appreciation and leaned forward. "I'm glad to hear that, Mr. Deeks. I'm looking forward to the day we can put this to rest and I can call you Agent Deeks."_

_He smirked at her. "You know you're just going to keep calling me Mr. Deeks."_

_She smiled back at him. "You know me well, Mr. Deeks."_

_He smiled, but sobered quickly. "We haven't talked since I got back...or while I was off. I assume if there was anything new, you would tell me?"_

_Hetty nodded. "I would. I have nothing new to report at this time. Any active investigations by NCIS are being monitored by the intelligence gathering network which is the focus of our investigation. Unfortunately for us, all active investigations by NCIS continue to be centered on the east coast. Until there is a security breach on the west coast, you will not be activated. But once you are, your cover is in place. Mr. Janklow will be making his statement about your cover alias Jason Wyler from prison if he is approached. And there is a bank account in his name to which we have been making payoffs."_

_Deeks nodded and jumped in. "And I have a bag of documents buried under a bush by my front door. And NCIS is prepared to stage a security breach or theft or murder to be the smoking gun, so to say, that catches me, when the time comes. I know."_

_"Then what troubles you?"_

_"For this to work, the team needs to believe I'm guilty."_

_Hetty nodded solemnly. "An unfortunate but necessary evil."_

_"That's the thing, Hetty... When we first set this plan up I thought I could make it happen."_

_"And now you doubt yourself?"_

_"Not exactly." He took a breath and slowly exhaled. "Callen and Sam; I can make them doubt me." Though he appreciated Sam's recent change of heart in behaviour towards him, he could still vividly see the fear in the older man's eyes through the dirty glass doors in that auto body shop. Because even after more than three years, Sam hadn't trusted Deeks to have his back. He hadn't trusted Deeks not to break and give up Michelle. And Callen was still second guessing every move he made in the month since he'd returned to work and been told by Callen he wasn't wanted there. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have a problem with it, but it rubbed him the wrong way because he knew Callen had accepted his own partner back with open arms and zero hesitation._

_But Kensi was different. She knew Deeks was damaged, but she accepted him as is. She knew him better than anyone ever had before. She _saw_ him like no one had before. "But Kensi? We've been partners for_ three and a half years_ now, Hetty. She'll see through me."_

_Hetty shook her head. "See that she doesn't."_

_He ran his hand through his hair. He half rose from his chair, but then sat back down. He didn't want to argue, but the highly experienced undercover operator in him knew there were operational issues that needed addressing. "I don't think it's that simple, Hetty. When we started this, I was supposed to be mole bait. My background was desirable and could be augmented in the hope I would be recruited or approached by a mole working within the network," he states flatly, having said the same thing many times over the years._

_Hetty nodded._

_"But it's been two years and things have changed. We say we're still hoping for those things to happen, but we both know with my classified status it's a solid plan B. What was plan B has become plan A. We're basically waiting for the security breaches to get worse so the investigations become more in depth in the hope that a mole imbeds himself as part of the investigation and in the hope that I'm identified as a suspect. And if that happens I have to put on a good show."_

_"To which I have no doubt you have the necessary skills to put on a very convincing show," Hetty told him._

_He runs his hand through his hair. "Most of the team, I can convince. But Kensi... The last time I had to deceive her we'd only been partners for a year and a half. And we made it so she saw me shoot someone with her own eyes. _And even then she figured it out_," he pointed out. "Hetty, it's been another _two years_. She's going to look me in the eye and she's going to know." _And then she's never going to forgive me_, his mind added to himself._

_Hetty narrowed her eyes at him. "Your partner will understand your deception as a necessary part of your job."_

_"She won't understand," he asserts. " And it will forever damage our partnership. But more specifically for _this operation, _which I'm getting is more important to you_, _she won't believe it."_

_"Make her believe it, Mr. Deeks," Hetty said, dismissing him._

_**April 2014**_

_Deeks had had his partner back for two weeks, and for the first time in almost five months he felt like he could breathe again. She'd spent much of her time recuperating with Deeks by her side. They hadn't talked about anything important as they spent most of their evenings on her couch or his, watching mindless television and eating takeout. But each time she looked at him, he saw trust in her eyes. And each time she looked at him like _that_, he felt his heart crack apart a little bit further. Because he was keeping something so important from her, and one day he'd be asked to break her heart. He could only hope and pray he wouldn't completely destroy the trust they'd spent four years building._

_When Hetty had first asked him to be part of this assignment, he hadn't been able to foresee a future where he would fall for his partner. Sure, he'd had feelings for her. He'd known how incredible she was. He'd known she was strong, fierce and super smart. Not to mention that she had the ability to be simultaneously adorable and terrifying. And her tendency to both be thrown off by his remarks _and _fire back her own kept him on his toes. The fact that she was breathtakingly gorgeous didn't hurt either. After a challenging start, she was fast becoming the perfect partner and a damn good friend. He had already started becoming fiercely protective of her life in ways he didn't always understand at the time._

_But he understood it now. Because the emotion of 'love' was once a foreign concept to Marty Deeks. Sometime over the years of being Kensi Blye's partner, partnership and friendship had become something more. And now he was in love with her. And she may actually love him back. And he had already allowed it to go too far once in a moment of weakness when he just couldn't keep away from her any longer. But he couldn't let it happen again. Regardless of what he felt. And regardless of what she may feel. Because he couldn't set them up for him to break her heart any more than he was already going to. _

_On her first day back to work, he had been disappointed Hetty stuck her in OPs with Eric. But by the end of the day, she was in front of him and she was smiling and she was _back_. She looked full of hope and optimism, both about returning to her job and about the two of them finally taking time to talk about their thing. After her ordeal and recovery, the hope shining in her eyes now nearly broke _his_ heart._

_The team spent the better part of an hour celebrating her return before dispersing for the night. Deeks sent off his partner with the promise to be over with takeout. He waited until he was the last one left and then he approached Hetty. He needed to convince her to let him bring Kensi in this time. Not only did he know she would never believe him to be a mole, but he couldn't let himself move forward with her without full disclosure._

_More confident this time than last, Deeks strode up to Hetty's desk and sat in the chair opposite her._

_"Mr. Deeks," she greeted._

_"Hetty," he responded evenly._

_"How can I help you?"_

_"I think you know exactly why I'm here."_

_Hetty stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "I can make an educated guess. And I can tell you my answer will be the same as last time."_

_Deeks shook his head. "But see, you don't understand-"_

_"I understand perfectly, Mr. Deeks."_

_"She won't believe it."_

_"You have to make her believe it."_

_"And I can't lie to her anymore. It's not right. _She's my partner,_" he emphasized._

_Hetty considered him for a long moment. "You and I both know there is a difference between a true lie and a lie of omission. Just like you and I both know Kensi is more than just your partner."_

_Deeks opened his mouth to argue, but closed it just as quickly. He wasn't sure if Hetty's words were supposed to sound like a threat, but they kind of did. He stood. "We're not done talking about this."_

_"No, Mr. Deeks, I'm sure we're not."_

_The next day, Hetty assigned Deeks and Kensi to interview a suspected dirty agent. Deeks was on edge during the entire 'interview' with Agent Angelo because he wasn't sure if it was part of his long term assignment or not. He let himself appear vulnerable to the agent, because if he was a mole, Deeks needed to stand out. Internally, he knew Kensi would never hurt him. Just like he knew Kensi knew the same about him. And at the end of the day, Angelo was dirty, but not guilty of being a mole. If anything, Deeks was left more confused and stressed than the day before. He wanted to continue his conversation with Hetty, but she was apparently avoiding him, because she was nowhere to be found when he returned to the Mission._

_Kensi approached his desk, her gaze open and hopeful, wanting to talk. And his heart broke, because he knew he couldn't do this to her. Not like this. Not until he could bring her in. Not until he got his head on straight. After two and a half years of keeping this secret, he couldn't keep the edges from blurring anymore, especially not when he knew the end result would be breaking her heart and her trust._

_It almost killed him, but he let her down as gently and as vaguely as he could, with the promise of the future in his words. He hoped he could one day explain and make everything and more up to her. He could feel Hetty's eyes on him as he was walking out, and he couldn't help but hope she felt bad for the part she had played._

_**May 2014**_

_A month later, Deeks was still angry at Hetty. He had decided to take a few weeks to settle his thoughts and prepare his arguments. He wanted to be ready for the next time he and Hetty spoke, because he wasn't taking no for an answer again. But just when Deeks thought he was about ready to make his next attempt, Hetty was called to Washington for an investigation into her actions as Operations Manager._

_It wasn't long at all before it was discovered that Hetty's personal information was provided to an outside source and sold on the internet._

_And, just like that, after all that time waiting, something had finally happened and Deeks was isolated from anyone else who knew as much as he did; or anyone who knew there was anything to know, really._

_He spent several days on edge, knowing if he was at any time accused of anything, no one would be there to back him up because no one else knew anything. He also realized he was the right person on the team to choose for his assignment now more than ever. Hetty had been right when she said he was underestimated by other federal agencies. That was proven when the DoJ team sent to investigate the entire OSP operation didn't even bother to interview him._

_When Hetty finally returned and the rest of the team was finally aware of the existence of a mole, things changed. Hetty was furious her personal information was compromised. She made it clear she was not approachable. Also, Granger was suddenly around all the time. Deeks didn't have a chance to say his piece. So, he did his job._

_He prepared for an investigation, but nothing happened._

_**June 2014**_

_When another month had passed without any new movement in the investigation, Deeks had finally reached his breaking point. Hetty had been understandably upset by the release of her private information. Deeks had known better than to corner her when it was all fresh and raw. He had made himself wait a month, and then a couple days just to make sure and suitable amount of time had passed. But now he was done being blocked by her._

_Like many past conversations, he waited for his team to leave before approaching her. He had caught her eye prior to everyone leaving, just to make sure she knew he wanted to talk. She kept her eyes focused down on the paperwork on her desk as he approached, not looking up at him until he sat down, whether as a tactical choice or not, Deeks didn't know. And he didn't care. Because he was done. He used to respect his boss, and her opinions and thoughts on cases. Now, taking into consideration the events of the past year, his views had changed. He still respected his boss. But he saw holes in her opinions, in her views and her thoughts. He knew she didn't always see the whole picture for the finish line._

_"Mr. Deeks," Hetty greeted evenly._

_"Hetty," he responded._

_"I presume you wish to discuss our little operation?"_

_"I do."_

_"And more specifically, you wish to request - again - Ms. Blye's involvement?"_

_"I do."_

_"And you know my opinion on the matter."_

_"I do."_

_Hetty cracked a small smile and nodded. "But you're going to make your case again?"_

_"I am."_

_She waved her hand, granting him permission to go ahead._

_"I have two main points for bringing her in," he began. "The first is we need someone else in on this, Hetty. Last month you weren't here when we found out your information was compromised. If that had resulted in a different investigation right away, this whole plan could have been for nothing. Because _no one_ else knew what was going on, not the whole story. And if I had been accused of anything, what should I have done? If I had gone through with playing a mole, first of all, as I've said before, Kensi would never have believed it, but we'll get to that. Let's assume I've managed to convince everyone I'm guilty and you're not here. If and when I identify the real mole, there would be no tracking, no audio support and no tactical support because, again, no one knows what's going on. And, oh, either the real mole kills me, or I'm stuck in prison."_

_"Last month was an oversight, Mr. Deeks, and we got lucky, in a matter of speaking," Hetty said dryly. "But I do agree that someone more than yourself and myself needs to be aware of this operation, in case I'm unavailable again."_

_"So, we're in agreement."_

_"Nice try. I'm not convinced that someone needs to be Ms. Blye."_

_"Okay, well, the second part of my first point addresses that."_

_"A large first point. What about your second point?"_

_He shook his head. "Much shorter. But I don't want to go there yet. Or at all, if I don't have to." He paused. "We've been partners for more than four years now. We hold each others' lives in our hands on a regular basis. She knows me as well and as deep as I know her, Hetty. And I _know_ she's not going to believe me as a traitor."_

_"Mr. Deeks-"_

_"I wouldn't believe it if it were her," he said fiercely, cutting her off. "If the situation were reversed. No matter the evidence. No matter what she admitted to. I wouldn't believe it. Not ever."_

_Hetty was silent._

_"She's the person I know and trust most in the world. And I'm the person she knows and trusts most in the world. From a partner standpoint, this could break us. From an operational standpoint, this could be the linchpin that either makes this work or destroys years of preparation. Because if she isn't read in and she's on site when this all goes down and I admit to treason, she'd not going to buy it. She may recognize we're running an OP and try to go along, but she's not going to know enough to play the right cards. And whoever the real mole is will be watching closely and even a hint of hesitation will be noticed immediately."_

_Hetty considered him for a long moment before slowly nodding. "What's your counter plan?"_

_Deeks took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, all the while biting back the urge to grin. Because he'd come prepared with a counter plan. "We read Kensi in and only Kensi. We know a taskforce is being assembled. I say we drop some more breadcrumbs and lead them to me. Maybe set up that security theft or murder we talked about to be the smoking gun; something really concrete so they really have me. Set up an interrogation, probably best in the boatshed. Call in for reinforcements, so others are free to show up. And then call in the team so you can 'surprise' me with the interrogation. They can present evidence. I'm sure the guys will want to run everything down." Although even as recently as the last October, Deeks had believed he could convince Callen and Sam of his guilt simply by admitting to it in interrogation, he was beginning to have his doubts. He'd spent a lot more time than usual working closely with Sam and Callen in the last year with Kensi being away. He'd been surprised to find a lot more trust and camaraderie existed than he'd expected. _

_"At some point, Kensi needs to be in interrogation with me," he continued. "And then we'll do what we do best and put on a damn good show. If Callen and Sam doubt my confession, they'll sympathize with Kensi's emotional response long enough not to question their doubts."_

_Hetty nodded. "A fair point."_

_Deeks took another deep breath in and released a slow exhale. "So, what do you think?"_

_"I think I want to hear your second point."_

_He only hesitated for a moment, but realized he was speaking with Hetty and she probably already knew what he was going to say. "Fine, but I did say I didn't want to go there. This will be my last attempt to convince you. If you say no, I'm done."_

_"Done with the assignment?"_

_"Yes. And NCIS."_

_Hetty sat up a little straighter. "Because you're not getting your way?"_

_"Because it's the _wrong _way. I've put my life and career on hold for two and a half years for this assignment. And I've been telling you since October that there are significant operational flaws, but you keep brushing me off. Either you have faith in my abilities and judgement or you don't. This assignment is important, and I'm committed to continuing as long as necessary to finish it. But not if I'm doing so knowing I'm working towards a final day certain of failure because _my partner_ doesn't know what's going on. Because that is a waste of everyone's time and I'd rather cut my losses now." He forced himself to hold Hetty's gaze as steady as he could._

_To his surprise, Hetty smiled. "That was a very mature argument, Mr. Deeks. I've seen you struggle with your uncertainties in regards to your...personal relationship with Ms. Blye. I wondered if you would use that as part of your argument."_

_He offered his boss a soft smile in response. "I won't break her heart," he acknowledged her statement. "As much as I would like to include my personal life as part of my argument, I won't, because this is more important than me and Kensi. I took some time and looked at everything as objectively as possible to make sure I was asking for this for the right reasons. And I come to the same conclusion every time. _I need my partner with me on this._ It's like I said, I'm willing to put my life on hold as long as necessary, so long as the plan is set up for success."_

_"You've already sacrificed quite a lot."_

_"It's important," he said. "We need to stop these people."_

_"That we do, Mr. Deeks. That we do." She nodded. "I find I agree with your assessment."_

_"Really?"_

_"Really," she confirmed._

_Deeks felt a wave of relief wash over him. _Finally._ After so much time, he wouldn't be alone in this anymore. He'd have his partner to watch his back. They'd be able to choreograph that final interrogation and guarantee the outcome. And he wouldn't have to break her trust or her heart._

_"Thank you."_

_"No, thank you, Mr. Deeks. You made very persuasive arguments. I was convinced before you had to result to threatening to quit." She smiled at that._

_He smiled back. "I did say I didn't want to result to that. But I thought it added dramatic flair."_

_She shook her head. "It did add effect. But the sentiment rang true. And your commitment to this assignment has never wavered. I'm sorry we couldn't talk like this sooner."_

_He offered her a shrug. "Well, I didn't have my thoughts together right away." He motioned to his jaw, knowing she'd understand his thoughts in the months after he'd returned to work. "And then after Kensi came home from Afghanistan I was...angry."_

_"Understandably so."_

_"It took me a while to calm down and collect my thoughts. I knew I'd have one chance to make my case."_

_"You did a admirable job, Mr. Deeks."_

_He nodded._

_"I will need to run the new plan by the director. He and I have a video call scheduled for next week to discuss this new taskforce being assembled, so I will discuss it with him then. And then you and I will set up and time to read in Kensi when the assistant director is not on site. How does that sound?"_

_He smiled. "Sounds great."_

_"And Mr. Deeks?"_

_"Moving forward, you don't need to put your entire life on hold..."_

_**July 2014**_

_When Hetty asked Kensi to stay back after work for a few minutes to discuss a case report she had completed for the prior week's case, Deeks jumped in with Callen and Sam in heckling her. He jokingly wished her good luck in the 'principal's office' and headed out towards his car. He waited exactly three minutes to make sure Callen and Sam had left before circling back into the Mission. It was a Friday night, so the support staff had cleared out as well, leaving the building quiet and empty; just like they had planned._

_Kensi was sitting alone at her desk. Across the room, Hetty was on the phone at her own desk. Deeks exchanged a quick glance with the Operations Manager, who nodded to him._

_When he got closer to the desks, Kensi's head turned when she heard his footsteps. She smirked. "What did you forget?"_

_"Uh, nothing." He dropped his shoulder bag down onto his desk before turning back towards her and dropping into Callen's chair so he was beside her._

_She rolled her eyes at him. "What, are you here for moral support? She just wants to discuss a report. It's probably nothing." She glanced over her shoulder. "And as soon as she's off the phone I'll-" She cut off when Deeks reached across the desk to lay his hand over hers._

_"It's not about a report, Kens," he said softly._

_She stared down at their hands for a moment and then turned her head to look him in the eye. Her jaw clenched as she took a calming breath. Then she nodded once to herself. "That was just a cover to get me to stay here."_

_"That's right."_

_"And you're here."_

_"Mmm-hmm."_

_"And Callen and Sam aren't."_

_"Yup."_

_She took another breath. And then, after more than four years of partnership, she proved to him that she could still surprise him. Her nose scrunched as she made a face. "I knew there was nothing wrong with that report! That report was awesome!"_

_He laughed out loud at her words. He'd been nervous all day about how she'd react to being read in to this assignment tonight. But her first priority being the quality of her report was actually pretty funny._

_She grinned back at him as he tried somewhat successfully to quell his laughter. _

_"I'm sure it was the most awesome report ever, Kens," he told her._

_She bumped his shoulder. "Better than yours."_

_"And still a one upper."_

_"You'd be heartbroken if I changed."_

_He bumped her shoulder back. "I would."_

_She stared down at where his hand still laid over top of hers for a long moment before flipping her hand over under his and threading their fingers together. It was more contact than either had risked in weeks, but she clearly sensed something significant was about to happen and needed the connection. "So...what's going on?"_

_He squeezed her hand, wanting to rid her eyes of the uncertainty he saw there. "Oh, Kens...I don't even know where to start."_

_"You're not leaving, right?"_

_"What? No. Of course not. Never."_

_She smiled at that. "Okay, good. It's just...the last time you and Hetty had something going on you ended up going back to the LAPD."_

_"I'm not going anywhere," he told her firmly. If only she knew he wasn't ever going back to the LAPD. Although, after tonight, she would know. The thought made him pause, because he hadn't realized that before. It had been so long since he'd agreed to delay his application to become an NCIS agent. He'd really settled into the liaison role so becoming an agent wasn't really something he thought about all that often. The fact that his partner may sometimes consider his position as her partner non-permanent hadn't entered his mind._

_"Good," she repeated, just as firmly. She offered him a smile and he was surprised to note that all of the uncertainty he'd seen earlier in her eyes was gone now. Not a trace remained. And that humbled him more than a little. Because it meant only one thing._

_She trusted him implicitly. She had confirmed her fear of him leaving wasn't what was going on, which had been the cause of the earlier uncertainty. And now she was waiting for answers as to why she had been kept back after work by himself and Hetty, who clearly had something going on that she knew nothing about. And the earlier uncertainty was now replaced with trust shining brighter than the uncertainty had in her eyes._

_His heart swelled with the mirroring trust he had in her, with the love he felt for her and with the hope he had for _them_. "I don't even know where to start..."_

_"That's alright, Mr. Deeks," Hetty said, surprising them both, "I know where to start."_

_Kensi and Deeks both jumped at Hetty's words and turned their attention to find their boss standing close beside Kensi's desk. They dropped hands, but didn't move far away from each other._

_"I will allay your fears, Ms. Blye," she began, before smirking as only Hetty could do. "Yes, your report from the case last week was, in fact, awesome. And, come Monday, you are welcome to advise Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna I kept you back to compliment you on your attention to detail and grammatical correctness."_

_Kensi smiled brightly at Hetty's comment, causing Deeks to start laughing again._

_"Now, why don't you two join me at my desk? Anyone want a cup of tea?"_

_Once they were settled beside each other in front of Hetty's desk, Hetty nodded and leaned forward, laying her hands on her desk. "To address your other concern, Ms. Blye, I will confirm that your partner is not going anywhere."_

_Kensi nodded._

_"In fact, he's with us for good," Hetty added._

_Kensi glanced towards Deeks and then back to Hetty, not quite understanding what she was being told._

_Hetty smiled. "About three years ago, I provided Mr. Deeks with an application to become an NCIS agent." She paused to allow that to sink in._

_"Three...three years?" Kensi glanced at Deeks again._

_"That's right. And then about six months after that, he signed the application and turned it in to me."_

_Kensi sat up a little straighter and turned to Deeks again. "You want to be an agent...but...I don't understand. Six months later. That's still two and a half years ago. Why..." She turned back to Hetty, her tone angry, prepared to defend her partner. "Was he not approved?"_

_Hetty smiled and shook her head. "His acceptance was assured the moment I gave him the application," she assured. "But the timing of him signing the application coincided with the beginning of a very important case. And Mr. Deeks agreed to put his application on hold to be part of this assignment."_

_"On hold for two and a half years?" Kensi looked to Deeks again._

_"As long as it takes."_

_"Why didn't you tell me?"_

_He smirked. "Classified."_

_She rolled her eyes at his tone, but nodded to Hetty in understanding._

_"Ms. Blye, you're about to be read into a highly classified assignment, which cannot be discussed outside of the three of us."_

_Kensi glanced to Deeks and then back to Hetty. "I understand."_

_"Mr. Deeks has been with this assignment since the beginning. And he's spent quite some time trying to convince me - successfully, might I add - to bring you in."_

_Kensi glanced at him again, one eyebrow raised, sending him a look that screamed '_you actually convinced Hetty of something?'

_He shrugged and widened his eyes ever so slightly, telling her he'd explain later._

_"Now, you are very much aware of the recent security breach regarding my personal information."_

_"Of course."_

_"What you are not aware of is this was not an isolated incident. We don't need to identify a single mole, but an entire intelligence hacking organization set up within NCIS and other agencies..."_

_Deeks sat back and allowed himself to breathe in relief as Hetty explained the entire operation detail by detail, right from the beginning to his partner. Kensi nodded thoughtfully and asked for clarification as she was slowly read into the assignment and plan to identify the mole and obtain as much information from the mole as possible._

_"Wow," Kensi commented when Hetty finished. "That's quite the plan."_

_"I wanted to call it '_Operation Wac-A-Mole'_ but Hetty and the Director wouldn't go for it," Deeks said, causing Kensi to laugh._

_Hetty cracked a smile and shook her head. "And I'm still not going for it, Mr. Deeks."_

_Kensi was still smiling, but sobered quickly as she turned to her partner. "So, this ends with you...admitting to treason?"_

_He nodded. "That's the plan."_

_"Mr. Deeks assured me the two of you can put on a good show when the time comes," Hetty said._

_Kensi nodded and shared a glance with Deeks. "I'm sure we can."_

_"Good. We will depend on your emotional reaction to your partner's betrayal to distract the rest of the team from their doubts of his guilt."_

_"We can definitely do this." She nodded to show her confidence. "But Deeks was right. I would never have believed it myself."_

_Hetty smiled. "And he convinced me of such." She folded her hands together. "Any questions?"_

_Kensi shook her head._

_"Alright then. Now that this organization we are hunting has moved their breaches to the west coast, we are officially active in this assignment. The NCIS-FBI taskforce has been assembled and has begun the preliminaries of their investigation. NCIS in Washington has confirmed that their investigation is already being monitored, so they should notice when the taskforce flags Mr. Deeks as a potential mole. With any luck, we should be wrapping up in the next few months."_

000

"Of course, the taskforce was much more useless than we had anticipated," Hetty explains. "Their investigation dragged on for over a year. And though we were monitoring things on our own, there was nothing we could do to speed up their progress."

"They had to at least have Detective Deeks on a short list of suspects for us to stage a murder," Director Vance adds.

Sam nods thoughtfully.

Callen nods as well, his mind on the previous explanation. "You know, I remember the evening Kensi was held back after work because of that report." He meets Kensi's eyes now. "I always thought something else was going on."

"So did I," Sam adds.

"No you didn't," Callen counters. "You were jealous she was praised for writing good reports."

"That is not true."

"You spent the next two months staying late to polish each and every report you wrote."

Sam keeps his mouth shut, but shakes his head.

Deeks laughs, while beside him Kensi is struggling to hold back her own laughter.

"So, what happened while you waited?" Nell asks.

"We planned for today," Deeks says. He glances at Kensi and they exchange a smile. "And we lived our lives..."


End file.
